


Nornir

by SongstressStarLake



Category: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Beyblade
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, College, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Mecha, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sports
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-27
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 02:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 73,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/806223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongstressStarLake/pseuds/SongstressStarLake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> </p>
  <p>    <img/><br/></p>
</div>Kai's dedication to beyblading gets him stuck in an upperlevel college class that he has zero chance of passing. Under an ultimatum from Voltaire to do well at school or choose between beyblading or his inheritance, Kai enlists the help of the snobbish prodigy "A2". When he also attracts the affections of Linnea, a fellow freshman, a love triangle forms amidst of crazy school escapades, emerging technology and a secretive scheme that threatens more than just his ticket out of his school problems.
            </blockquote>





	1. Academic Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> I. I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters that I use here. I do, however, own the plot and any original concepts and Original Characters (O.C.) that I may feature. All OC character designs and any images I post of them will also be owned by me.
> 
> II. Any names used here that may coincide with that of a real person(s) are by sheer coincidence. No real person(s) are presented in my work.
> 
> III. Any poetry/song lyrics featured are entirely my own work.
> 
> IV. I am not writing this fanfic for profit, or to in any way affect the franchise's production or distribution.
> 
> This story is: canon-compliant (primarily towards the anime but also the manga up to chapter 2 of of :Rising), post-canon
> 
> Please note: The following story was originally published as a humor one-shot. It was planned further and continued as a result of reviewer's requests. As such, the OC in chapter one was originally intended to just be a meanie to Kai until I developed her further to be an actual character with a role in the story in later chapters. Also, the first (few) chapters may be a little slow. Please bear with me.
> 
> Other than that, please read & review, and enjoy!
> 
> Supplementary images for this story are available at: http://songstressstarlake.deviantart.com/gallery/43451358/Nornir
> 
> If you like this work but do not see it updated in a while, please check: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8562379/1/Nornir  
> (Due to having to do extra formatting here, updates are usually behind the schedule of updates on fanfiction.net.)

### Academic Accident

Kai rushes through the hallways of the building looking left and right as he passes each door to find the room he is to go to.

Despite that it has already been two weeks into the school semester, for Kai, it is only _his_ first day of class. The reason for this a simple one: he had spent the last two weeks competing in a nationwide beyblade competition. It was well worth it to him, of course; he had added yet another trophy to his collection. The downside was that this had greatly angered his grandfather who had wanted him to succeed him as the head of Hiwatari Enterprises. Having reached the age where he would need to get serious and focus on his studies and career if he is to succeed, his grandfather had been putting great pressure on him, much to his dismay. As a compromise between the two, since Voltaire would have no heir if he were to disinherit Kai as he had done Kai's father, he had agreed to allow Kai to continue beyblading if Kai agrees to attend a well reputed university overseas in America and take his studies seriously. To that end, Kai agreed. As much as Kai loves beyblading, he also cares to have a career.

Kai continues to look for the room to his economics class. 'Room 210….211…212…213…214…There it is!'

Kai catches his breath at the door. He peaks inside for a moment and sees that only a little over ten or fifteen people seem to be there. Believing that the group inside can't be the entire class and that this meant he can't be far too late past the time he was supposed to have gotten there, he sighs and enters, taking a seat somewhere in the back corner of the room where only one other student is present.

Of course, he took that spot in the room so he wouldn't have to socialize with anyone or get called on by the professor. However, he soon notices that something was not right about his economics class. Not that he bothered to bring a notebook or even paper to take notes but the "notes" on the chalkboard just seem to be...nonsense.

'What…in the…' Kai looks at what the professor is writing with a very confused face. He then listens to the professor's thickly accented speech and tries to make out what he is saying. So far, he had not even bothered to memorize the professor's name; it was long, in a language he doesn't speak, and he had really only seen it once when he signed up for classes during the university's orientation for freshmen students. Even _then_ , he hadn't really looked at the details of his classes; he just typed in the course codes for the classes he needed.

"So the rotation operators act on a ket and do this!" the professor enthusiastically points to some result he wrote down on the board.

Kai reads the equation:

Ȓ( _π_ /2) **j** |+ **z** ⟩=|+ **x** ⟩

"What." He mouths to himself as he glances at everything else messily scribbled on the chalkboard.

'Did I walk into the wrong classroom?' he asks himself in his mind. He then pulls out the small sheet of paper on which the room number had been scribbled down earlier.

Room 214

He was certain he had entered the correct room. 'Was the room number wrong?'

He had really only arrived on campus today and hadn't really had a chance to look at his schedule more closely. The room numbers of the rooms he needed to go to and the times he were to show up at those locations were told to him by his driver who had brought everything to his dorm room for him. 'Maybe that guy messed up…?'

He looks to the chalkboard again and listens to the professor again. All he keeps hearing are the words, "operators", "eigenstates", "eigenkets", "bras", "kets", " _i_ " and "ℏ".

'This can't be my economics class…' Kai then glances around the room. There doesn't seem to be any other students arriving. He then looks to the clock at the front of the room. It is already half an hour into the lecture. 'I must be in the wrong room…'

Kai then turns to the one other student in the corner of the room. A girl with very long and very light colored hair wearing a plain, white dress sat gaming on her laptop, paying the instructor no mind whatsoever.

'I can ask her what class this is…' Kai decides to try to get her attention.

As she finishes player killing and flaming some poor random player on the MMORPG she is playing, he taps her lightly on the shoulder and whispers, "Hey, do you mind telling me what class this is?"

She does not answer but continues to flame the poor pixelated bastard on her screen using the shout channel.

Slightly irritated that she's ignoring him despite being certain that she heard him, he says to her, "Hey, I'm asking you a-"

"Quantum Mechanics I." She replies, teleporting back to town in the game. In a haughty tone, she then asks, "Why do you ask? Are you some lost freshman?"

Kai wasn't about to admit that she's spot on. Aside from the fact that she was correct, she sounded like the classic example of a snobby noble speaking to a peasant out of a movie to him. Ignoring this, he asks, "Can I use your laptop for a sec'?"

She replies to some guild or clan members in the game but glances over to him. "What for?"

"Just to check something." He answers her as vaguely as possible to avoid her in any way making fun of him. Her comment had made it clear to him that she must not be fond of freshmen.

"Fine then." She opens a browser for him and hands him the laptop. She then snaps at him at a volume only he would hear, "Make it quick. I got an epic I need to camp soon with my clan."

Disregarding her MMO comment, Kai quickly logs into the school's website to check his schedule. He finds it and looks under the Monday column. Upon seeing it, he becomes petrified.

"No…way…" Kai stares horrified at the screen.

"What?" the girl next to him looks at the screen with a bored expression. Noticing what made him freeze up, and figuring his situation out, she gives him a sadistic smile. "Oh my,"

During the orientation, Kai had apparently accidentally signed himself up for an upper level physics course…namely, Quantum Mechanics I. Normally a university would not let a student sign up for such a class without the prerequisites but however it would appear that this university, having a reputation for accepting only the most brilliant students did not see harm in _not_ having such a barrier.

Kai looks up at the chalkboard and then remembers the deal he made with his grandfather: if he does well at university, he can keep beyblading.

'Crap…' He mentally curses. He then checks the site for the add/drop deadline. That had been the Friday that had just passed.

'Screw this…' He panics thinking what he can do. He could withdraw from the course and that would save his GPA but his transcript would be forever cursed with a "W" which his grandfather was sure to be dissatisfied with seeing. If not for that, he was going to have to somehow pass this course and do well enough to get at least a "B" or "B+". At least this class fulfills a general education requirement.

'But is that even possible?' he asks mentally. He had taken an introductory physics course back in high school in Japan but never had they covered anything that looked like this. Then there was Kenny…

'Maybe Kenny can help me…he's sure to know quantum mechanics…' However, he recalls that Kenny had volunteered to do research this semester at some university, and due to location differences, has about eleven hours or more of time zone difference with him making the likelihood that Kenny would be capable of helping him to be highly improbable.

"Are you done?" the girl next to him asks. She clearly wants to just keep gaming. "I need to form my party for the raid."

He hands the laptop back to her. As he does he notices something on the desk adjacent to her on the other side. It appears to be homework and quizzes that were handed back probably at the beginning of class. What caught his eye however is the perfect score at the top of the two pieces of papers.

"Are those yours?" he asks her, indicating to the papers there.

She types away speedily on the mobile device and replies, "No, they belong to the invisible person sitting next to me."

Kai isn't fond of her attitude but he takes it as she means "yes". Since Kenny is busy, his grandfather would never accept it if he withdrew and there is no one close to him who can help him, he decides to maybe swallow his pride just this once and ask this girl to help him. He doesn't know anyone at the university let alone in this class, after all. "Do you mind…tutoring me for this class?"

She turns to him surprised that he asked such a question. However her lips then curled into an almost cruel grin. "Tutor…you, you say?"

Kai starts to get a bad feeling from this.

"You're not even a physics major, are you?" she asks him, a devilish grin on her lips. "I've never seen you in any of my previous classes and most of the other classes you're taking aren't even related."

"Well…I…" Kai hesitates to explain his situation to her. She seems sure to make fun of him from everything he has seen of her so far.

"Sorry, but I hate people who are incompetent." She tells him coldly. "Maybe if you come up with a good reason, I'll help you but I doubt you can do that."

With that, the professor ends the class and she starts to pack her things up to leave.


	2. By A Twist of Fate

### By A Twist of Fate

Tick tock, tick tock…

Kai listens to the steady sounds of the clock at the front of the classroom impatiently as he awaits his week to be over. If he had not accidentally signed himself up for an upper level physics class, his Friday classes would have ended by now. Four days since _his_ first day of classes have already passed.

At the end of the lecture on Monday, Kai had attempted to wriggle his way out of his situation by speaking with the professor in charge of the class as well as visiting the Academic Advising Office. Needless to say, neither were willing to switch him out of the course without the ugly 'W' for withdrawal as they had considered his situation to be negligence on his part.

'Well, it _was_ my fault after all…' Kai admits to himself as he recalls the fact that he hadn't even checked to see that he had registered for the correct courses. He will have to take the course he intended to register for another time. On the bright side, none of the classes he missed during the first two weeks took attendance and especially not the quantum class since the professor does not even appear to care that there is a girl in the back of the room who plays MMOs right through his lectures. He sighs and glances over to the girl in question.

She is, again, playing that same game.

During the last two times he had attended this class, he had noticed something about the whole class in general. Most of the students in the class seem to have preferred spots in the classroom despite the obvious fact that the instructor has no interest, let alone care where they sit. Other than himself, the girl, and two other guys, the rest of the students are more or less always concentrated into the middle and front of the room. They all appear equally silent and at the end of the class, judging from the contents of their conversations with one another, generally equally confused. None of them are more confused than he is of course. The two guys in the back in the other corner, though, are generally doing work of some kind for some class and just like on the first day he showed up, the girl with long, light hair is always playing her MMO game on her laptop.

The girl notices him eyeing her and sends him a look of annoyance.

Kai turns away from her. The third week of classes are about to be over and in about a little over a week, he will have to take the first midterm for this class. 'What am I going to do?'

He had already tried reading the textbook for the class which he purchased with hopes that it would help him but he didn't understand anything in it. He had also tried asking the two guys in the other corner two days ago. They had been initially willing to help him but upon learning that he had not taken most of the math and physics courses required to understand this class, they politely backed out by saying they "can try" but that they will not have much time due to their own busy schedules. Since those two had refused, he had not bothered trying to ask the rest of the class either. After all, they'd probably give the same reasons to refuse and their expertise on the subject is probably worse since their struggle with the course contents is made obvious by their interactions with one another after each class. The other thing is that everyone seems to already have their own cliques which meant that he'd want to interact with them even less. The only exception to that is…

Kai looks over to the girl playing on her laptop again. She had always sat alone so far. After class, she seems to generally just pack her things and leave quietly and he had never in fact seen her initiate a conversation with anyone of her own volition. So far, she is also the only person in the class who seems to have a blatant abundance of free time – at least enough to be gaming anyway. Although it is possible that this week is just special for her, he cannot help but wonder, 'Is she always like this?'

He then recalls the fact that she had agreed to help him on day one on the condition that he can "come up with a good reason". The way she had said it, he was sure she never intends for him to find a "good reason". He turns away from her.

'Maybe it is better if I just withdraw…' Kai considers the option. Of course, his grandfather would be furious about it. However, he realizes something. There is still a good deal of time until the withdraw deadline. Surely, it can't hurt him to try for a little longer to understand what's going on in this class. 'But would it even be worth the try? Can I even get there?'

Kai sneaks yet another look at the girl a seat away from him. She did say if he finds a "good reason", she will offer him the help he needs. If anything, during the past two classes, he had noticed, from reading her online conversations with her clanmates out of boredom, that she is apparently quite a prideful person.

'Maybe I can use her pride to my advantage…' Kai begins thinking of a way to convince her. 'But can I even do it? And even if she does help, will I even get everything in such a small amount of time?'

The girl begins to pack up to leave. Moments after she does, the professor ends the class and let's everyone go. Before he can even speak to her, the girl leaves the room. Kai sighs and decides he might as well head off to his room and drop off his stuff before going anywhere to do anything.

...

The girl arrives at her second floor dorm suite and unlocks the door to enter. Although one of her suite mates are in the living room, she does not bother to greet them but walks straight down the hallway to her room where she enters and quickly drops her things off. Opening the lid of her laptop, she restores the window of her game and quickly types a "back but brb 30 mins" into the party chat channel. She then proceeds to gather some bath items before heading into the bathroom of her suite. She places the basket of items down on a shelf not too far below the open bathroom window, turns on the water in the shower and begins to remove any articles of clothing or accessories on her. When she had removed the last item on her, a necklace, she steps in to enjoy her shower.

Little did she know that she had been watched this entire time. A small furry rodent peaks a little closer in from the bathroom window. Although it is impossible for a human being to enter the small bathroom from outside due to the arrangement of metal decorating the window, for a hungry squirrel, however, entering is a simple task.

As the girl unknowingly enjoys her shower, the squirrel stares intently on the acorn shaped pendant in the basket. Hungry for food and thinking it _is_ food, it jumps down into the basket and picks up the pendant, attempting to eat it. Noticing the noise, the girl pulls back the shower curtain a little to see what had happened. At the sight of the girl, the squirrel leaps back up to the windowsill and promptly flees out the window and onto a tree branch outside – with the girl's pendant in its possession.

"No way!" the girl exclaims as she rushes out of the shower to see which direction the squirrel had gone. "I am NOT going to lose a keepsake from my mother to a mere rodent!"

She grabs her towel and quickly wraps it around herself before dashing straight out of the bathroom and to the door of her suite. She grabs the nearest pair of footwear at the door and rushes out the door.

"What the hell…?" her suite mate mutters with a potato chip sticking out of her mouth as she stares after the door of the suite. "Was that my pair of rain boots she just grabbed?"

...

Elsewhere, Kai strolls through the grounds of a rather lively campus. He wasn't really interested in making friends or joining any of the activities the other students were doing. His own suite had been rather noisy when he got back from class and so he had decided to go take a walk around the grounds of his dorm building. It hasn't been very eventful either.

However, that changes quickly when Kai spots a familiar figure up ahead that has gained quite a good deal of attention from everyone outside. It was the girl from his quantum class.

'What the…' The strange sight before him had effectively froze him to his spot on the ground.

He watches as the girl runs after a squirrel headed in his direction. The even odder thing about all this is that fact that the girl is wearing nothing but a towel that she held up with one hand and a pair of rain boots.

Before he had the time to think anything, the squirrel leaps onto him and uses him as a stepladder to get atop the branch immediately above his head. In the process, he feels a small item fall onto him which he catches with one hand. It was a pendant that was shaped like an acorn.

"Hey…freshman…" the girl huffs and puffs before him. She then snaps a demand at him while still catching her breath, "Give…that…back…to…me…Right now!"


	3. A Formal Contract

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little glossary for non-MMO players:
> 
> Party (not to be confused with a celebration) is a group formed in a game for any purpose within the game (killing monsters, bosses, other players, events etc).
> 
> PVP stands for Player Versus Player and refers to in-game fighting between multiple players. In the case of this fic, the event the girl was participating in is more accurately Mass PVP (large amounts of players playing against one another) between two sides.
> 
> AOE stands for Area Of Effect and refers to attacks that hits an area on the map rather than a single target.
> 
> Buffs are spells or skills in a game that increases one's character's battle strength (attack power, defense, health point or hit points, movement speed, evasion, critical chance, etc) or gives the character other advantages.
> 
> Debuffs are spells or skills in a game that lowers an enemy character or monster's fighting strength (attack power, defense, health point or hit points, movement speed, evasion, critical chance, etc) or advantages.
> 
> Songs/Dances are skills belonging to family of classes commonly referred to as Bard classes. While in some games these can be anywhere from attacks to healing skills, in this fic, they are a set of buffs that can be given to an entire party.

### A Formal Contract

The sun's early morning light permeates a neatly arranged room. Kai sits up and brushes his bangs from his face. He gets off the bed and walks over somewhat sleepily to the window. Outside, the campus grounds are quiet and the air is cool. He then turns to a lone pendant on his desk. At the sight of the object, he recalls the events of the afternoon the day before. As if by a twist of fate, he had gotten what he had asked for: a tutor who will teach him all of the prerequisite materials to his quantum mechanics course as well as help him understand the materials for the class itself.

"Hey…freshman…" the girl addressed him the afternoon before, quite out of breath from running, "Give…that…back…to…me…Right now!"

Still astonished from the event that had just transpired, Kai could not take his eyes off her. After a few moments he looked up at the tree and then to the item in his hand. Save for the few people near them, everyone else had lost their interest in the two of them and returned to their own activities.

"You mean this?" Kai indicated to the necklace.

"What else?" she snapped impatiently at him. She then issued him a command, "I order you, return it to me right now."

Kai eyed her up and down for a moment and thought, 'Who does this girl think she is to order me…?'

From her appearance then, it was obvious the item must be _very_ important to her if she had ran out naked with nothing but a towel and a pair of shoes clearly not fit for the afternoon's weather to chase a squirrel around campus for it. He then recalled her attitude toward him on the first day and what she had jokingly promised him.

_"Maybe if you come up with a good reason, I'll help you but I doubt you can do that."_

His lips proceeded to curl into a vindictive smirk as an idea came to his mind. 'Well, luck might just be on my side today.'

As he formulated his thoughts, the girl took a quick glance around them. Most of those who had been watching them nearby had returned to their own activities and only a few passersby seemed to bother looking in her direction. She then looked back to Kai and became puzzled by his smug appearance and lack of compliance to her demand of action. Wanting to return to her suite already, she impatiently made an attempt to grab the necklace from him. To her dismay, he evaded her.

She reacted to his action with a few moments of silence before she imperiously said, "If you wanted a 'please', you won't get one; it's _my_ necklace."

'Rude, awkward, demanding…' Kai mentally commented to that. He then replied to her statement, "Oh really?"

The displeasure on her features visibly increased. Kai then went on, "Can you _prove_ that it's yours?"

For a few moments, the girl stared intensely at him, analytically scanning him. Kai could tell she must have been trying to figure out his intentions based on his actions and whatever knowledge of him and his situation she possessed, for, a short time later, she stated the following, "It's not my necklace you're after."

In some ways, Kai did feel just slightly impressed by her intellect but he knew that it was no time to be admiring her deduction skills. She then demanded from him in a serious tone, "Laconically, what do you want from me?"

It was this moment when Kai silently prayed in his mind that the necklace really _is_ as important to her as he had assumed when he formulated his plan. He gulped before saying,

"It's simple. Tutor me, and ensure that I pass Quantum with a good looking grade."

To that, the girl had reacted with an expression of utmost displeasure.

Kai approaches his desk and picks up the acorn shaped pendant. 'That's right. With this, I can ensure her help in the class. At least for as long as I am enrolled in the course…'

Of course, the girl was quite discontent with his conditions. In retaliation, she issued to him an ultimatum: he must also agree to a set of _her_ conditions in exchange for her tutoring services, or she will simply give up on the necklace and mentally convince herself that the squirrel and her pendant had disappeared to unknown parts. Having no guarantee of finding anyone else even slightly willing to go the distance he needs them to go in tutoring him, he agreed to at least hear her out. Ultimately, the two of them formed and signed a contract with the following conditions:

1) She will help him with quantum mechanics and all prerequisites for the course as long as he is enrolled in the course and for as long as he wants her help.

2) He holds onto her necklace until their contract is fulfilled either by the conclusion of the course, his withdrawal from the course, her leaving the university or him relinquishing her from service.

3) In return, she will receive as many and any kind of favors from him as she wants so long as the favor in question is publicly reasonable, intelligible, and within legal bounds and the bounds of their contract.

4) He will be ensured a passing grade and a high ranking within the class.

5) Their relation shall be kept to only required interactions and no personal information may be inquired of her.

The third condition was simply her little reprisal; somewhat of a payment to her. The last condition, however, while not something Kai would disagree with considering what he had seen of her, was entirely a demand from her. To him, that condition made a statement: This girl wants nothing to do with him beyond what is required of her. Absolutely nothing.

'Well that's fine with me.' Kai didn't really care to have further interactions with such a strange, bossy, and disrespectful girl anyway.

He then looks around his room for a good place to store the pendant. After all, if ever the girl came over for _any_ reason, he wouldn't want the thing to be in plain sight so she could just take it back and call off the whole deal; he'd be back where he started if that were to happen. He goes through a drawer of his and finds a small box containing some spare beyblade parts. Seeing as there is some extra room inside and deciding that this should suffice, he drops the necklace in and puts everything back before shoving the drawer shut.

He then looks at the small digital clock in the room. 'Crap.'

The night before, Kai had agreed to meet with the girl at 9 a.m. sharp at her dorm for his first lesson. However, it would appear he has woken up much later than he had intended and the time now read 11:26 a.m. Deciding he might as well head over anyway, Kai hurriedly dresses himself and exits his room.

...

In the meantime, the girl with long, light colored hair browses through several open game clients spanning the screens of four laptops arranged in a semicircle around her on the floor in her room. Everything in the room appeared messy; books, papers, clothes, writing utensils, remnants of instant meals and what appears to be a pile of metal ruins lay scattered about the room. A fluffy cat sits perched on a surprisingly neat bed watching the interesting moving images on the four laptops as the girl brutally spams buttons on the laptop directly in front of her and listens to various people speaking to her over the internet.

"Enemy mass summoning at Necropolis; all members of my party, prepare for pvp. Check your buffs and self-buffs; Ruka, we're renewing songs and dances NOW." She commands authoritatively over a microphone on the floor as she synchronizes with a party member to provide everyone a set of powerful, short-lived buffs. She then runs up to the castle walls in-game with her character, named Nasty, and waits while hidden for the enemy army to approach. Once they are in sight and attacking the castle door, she proceeds to cast a powerful area of effect debuff on her enemies. She then speaks again into the microphone, "Lara, cast Stormscream, NOW."

At that moment, the doorbell sounds but is ignored as the girl's casting in-game completes and the third of the enemy army that had attacked their castle door under the impression that no one was guarding the castle soon found themselves dieing and then dead.

"Good job, Lara." She commends her teammate. She then issues another set of orders, "PC, Ruka, on my mark, cast in the passageway behind the door…NOW."

The AOE attack and AOE debuff combo again, kills off yet another third of the enemy army. However, she and her party now have the surviving one third to deal with as their presence had been announced by their assaults. Luckily the event did not allow resurrection for castle attackers and as the survivors entered, the rest of her clan also arrives back at their castle by teleport.

"And our back up has arrived," she comments satisfied with how things turned out. A knock on her door sounds but she ignores it anyway.

"Good work, Nasty," her clan leader applauses her over their clan's Vent channel before issuing to an order to the entire clan, "Everybody attack and finish them off. RUSH, GO GO!"

Suddenly, the door to her bedroom bursts open.

"You're late." The girl comments without looking up from the screen or pausing her actions on her laptop.

"I'm going back to sleep…" the girl's suite mate yawns as she strolls back to her room, leaving Kai and the girl alone.

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?" Kai returns from outside her door.

"Wait." The girl tells him, now pausing her activities in-game.

Kai watches as she hops over some of her belongings on the floor before slamming the door shut in his face. He then hears a loud animal shrieking noise followed by a loud slam before the door reopens and the girl returns to her previous spot amidst her laptops.

Kai enters the room very confused by her actions but shrugs it off. He takes a quick glance around and notices that the room is a big mess with a hunk of metal in one corner to match.

"It's on the desk." The girl indicates to him before returning to her in-game castle siege event. "Enemy summoner logged in at Valley Pass. Pm 'VPcam1' for summon to kill it."

Kai looks at her strangely. Then, noticing how multiple laptops, each with at least two game clients open, were spread out around her, he decides to shrug it off. 'Must be another game related thing of hers…'

He makes his way to the desk, careful not to step onto anything. A small stack of papers lay on the desk. Seeing as nothing else is there, he asks the girl, "What is this?"

"Your lesson." She responds as she checks the clients on the other laptops to spy on her in-game enemies' actions. "Take it, get out, and makes sure the next time you come back, you're familiar and adept with every equation, concept, and theorem I wrote down on there. I suggest doing the example problems I wrote for you at the end of every section."

Kai takes a look at the pieces of papers. Some of what appeared on the first page, he knew from having taken a course in calculus. However, everything that followed was foreign to him and at first glance, made little sense. He turns back to the girl. "Our deal was that you will ensure I pass with a decent grade."

She does not respond to him but continues spamming buttons on the laptop in front of her.

He then holds the papers out to her. "What is all of _this_? Care to explain?"

"It's self-explanatory." She tells him, carrying on with her pvp activities.

"I asked you to be my teacher." Kai emphasizes his demand.

Concluding her rebuffs on her party, she looks up at him in an austere and assertive manner. "If you don't have any intention to learn the material and understand the class, then relinquish me from service and return the necklace to me. I can't teach you advanced mathematics and physics and succeed at it if you don't want to put any effort into the learning process; they're not subjects where you can just be spoon-fed a list of facts, regurgitate them to the professor and expect to score flying colors on your exams. You need to derive the equations yourself, visualize the concepts, and practice using the concepts and theories you learned to solve the problems available to you until you're adept at it."

Kai stares at her for a moment, quite taken aback by her speech. In many ways, what she had said reminded him of his own commitment to beyblading and what it takes to get good at it. He remembers all of his hard work and training and the struggle he had gone through to get where he had gotten in the sport and compares it to what she had just said. He accepts what she said and decides to give her a bit of respect, 'Maybe this girl isn't so bad after all…'

'But will this be enough for me to learn everything in time?' Kai scans through the sheets of papers again. The sheets contained a good deal of equations with clearly labeled derivations. Every mathematical principle or theorem used to alter or simplify an equation is given. The topics and concepts were also clearly divided into sections and each section had an abundant amount of diagrams or illustrations to help him visualize everything. He flips through it some more.

"Is this only mathematics?" he asks her.

The girl had returned to her game but replies anyway, "It's the first and easier half of the mathematical principles you'll need. Most of it is self-explanatory and common sense to me but I've seen people struggle with it. So, as a favor to your feeble brain, I've derived every last thing so that even a middle-schooler with only basic algebraic and basic trigonometric knowledge can follow and understand it. That better be enough for you."

Kai holds in his irritation to the best of his ability. He had begun to have some respect for the girl but now, he changes his mind, 'Never mind, I take back my previous statement about this girl.'

However, his thoughts are interrupted by a soft scratching sound coming from a corner of the room. He looks over in the direction of the sound but finds nothing there but a closet and a mess around it typical to that of the rest of the room.

"It's just my suite mate." The girl abruptly explains to him.

He turns to her. Something was odd about her response to the sound – or rather her response to the way he reacted to the sound.

"Meeeow!" a soft sound erupts from the corner where the closet is.

As Kai turns to it, the girl meows loudly, "Meow!"

He turns back to her, 'What the hell…?'

"What the fuck was that?" a male accented voice from her laptop asks.

"Sorry, didn't mean to speak on Vent; I hit the bind button by accident." The girl apologizes, a little flushed.

"Meow?" another voice from her laptop, this time female, but also accented, asks, clearly amused.

The girl stays silent and does not answer them. She turns to Kai and barks a command at him, "If you're done asking meaningless questions, get out of my room already and go home!"

Kai is confused but at the same time, somewhat amused by her flustered expression. However, as this _is_ her room, he complies with her demand. He begins to leave and as he does, the closet door opens and let's out a fluffy, white Persian cat. Leaping out, it lands gracefully on its feet and greets Kai with a "Meow".

Now, Kai might be a freshman but even he is aware that the school's residence halls, out of respect for people with allergies, strictly forbids its residents from keeping any pets aside from small fishes or other containable, small aquatic animals. Of course, he, himself does not mind them, and in fact is fond of them. He would even have liked to pet the cat before him but before he can say or do anything, he notices the girl standing behind him and holding onto the back of his clothing.

"You didn't see it." She asserts through gritted teeth with her cheeks puffed up. "You're hallucinating right now. If you believe otherwise, then the deal between us is _off_."


	4. Cat Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In compliance with a comment left on fanfiction.net, I will avoid describing the MMO she plays from now on to any detailed extents.

### Cat Out

Kai writes out a few equations on a separate sheet of paper while his quantum mechanics professor lectures about something called a Stern-Gerlach experiment and some other thing called a polarizer. He didn't care what the professor was saying; he didn't understand the material one bit after all. Besides, he is close to completing the packet that the girl had given him the past Saturday and the thing had taken him all weekend. Luckily for him, his other three classes were introductory level so they demanded very little of his time.

Boxing in the final answer to the practice problem on the packet, Kai takes a deep breath and decides he should probably give himself a five minute break. Thinking back to the materials he studied over the weekend, he cannot help but be impressed by how much he managed to learn – or more precisely, how much information the girl had managed to stuff into the packet and yet keep it concise and clear at the same time. The packet had contained everything from basic calculus to three-dimensional vector calculus. According to the girl, this would be covered in a span of three calculus courses at most universities.

'And yet I learned all of it in a span of two days.' Kai muses.

He glances over to the girl to see her at her usual: the MMO game where she essentially just kills other players – at least from what he's seen her do in it. He then recalls their little incident on Saturday. He had stumbled onto a little secret she was keeping from the school – namely keeping a pet cat in her suite. In response, she had threatened to abrogate their contract if he said anything about it to anyone. Of course, Kai knew the rules of the residence halls and school apartments just as well as she did and having a fondness for cats, he had no intention to tell anyone. The girl, however, already made the assumption from the start that he would use her secret to some form of advantage of his based on his "holding her necklace hostage". Rather unhappy with how base a character she has assumed him to be, he ended up arguing with her and unintentionally threatening her with the cat's presence in her suite. To his displeasure, the girl took him seriously and said to him, "You're despicable. Using a poor little cat as a bargaining chip…"

The two of them had not really spoken since. There was no reason to, after all. The packet was just as she had described it – completely self-explanatory. Since neither of them really wanted anything to do with one another, there were no other reasons for them to speak with one another.

As Kai is about to return to working on the few problems he has left on the packet, the professor tells the class, "Okay class, time's up and you may go. Remember that there is a quiz in tomorrow's discussion section. I know you are all confused except for A2 but do your best anyway!"

Kai watches as the plump old man promptly proceeds to exit the room. He then begins packing his own things up. As he does, a familiar voice near him addresses him, "Hey."

He looks up to see the girl dressed in white before him.

"By condition three of our contract, I order you to come to my suite at six o'clock for a favor. I'll give you the details then." She then turns to the door and leaves.

Acknowledging her request without bothering to reply, Kai resumes packing. Once done, he gets up to leave as well. As he exits the classroom, however, one of the guys who normally sit in the front of the room approaches him.

"Hi, I'm Shin." He introduces himself. "Shin Asakura."

Kai keeps on walking and ignores the guy.

"You're Kai, right?" the guy who called himself "Shin" goes on. "Kai Hiwatari?"

"That's my name." Kai walks on. 'What does this guy want..?'

"I've seen you on TV before but anyway, I'm not here for an autograph or anything." He goes on. "You a transfer?"

Kai does not answer him but keeps walking.

"Hey, I'm only asking because I've never seen you in any of my previous physics classes." He explains after the silence.

Kai stops and turns to him. He had heard a similar line from that girl too. "I take it the whole class all knows each other?"

"Yeah, sort of…" Shin answers him as he continues walking down the hall again. "Most of us have already taken intro physics in high school so naturally we more or less just skipped straight to the upper levels where it's pretty much major specific. Since the students in the major tend to not move around much, we've all more or less taken the same few classes together since freshman year."

"I see." Kai comments nonchalantly as he turns a corner in the hall. This guy is certainly talkative and Kai wouldn't be surprised if he's into gossip too. The last thing he wants to do now is tell this guy that he actually ended up in quantum mechanics by mistake and risk having the whole class talking about it.

"So are you friends with A2?" Shin asks.

Kai turns to look at him. He has no idea who or what A2 is. "A2?"

"That girl you always sit near in the back." Shin answers. "Weren't you two talking to each other?"

'Who the hell calls their kid A2… ?' Kai mentally notes. He then recalls when he saw her running around in a towel and rain boots smack in the middle of the afternoon on Friday. 'Well, I suppose it's a fitting name for such a weird girl…'

"Well anyway, A2's just the nickname she insists on going by." Shin goes on. "I don't think anyone in the class knows her real name. She never talks to anyone…at least not 'til you showed up."

Kai listens but doesn't say anything in response.

The guy goes on anyway and asks. "So did you really not know her name?"

"No." After that, Kai picks up his pace to split from him.

...

That evening, Kai arrives at the door of the suite in which his tutor resides just as she had requested of him. He rings the doorbell and waits patiently for the door to be answered and it soon is, albeit again, by her suite mate, the same one who had answered the last time he came by.

"You must be here for _her_ again, huh?" She greets him, her expression a mixture of annoyance, amusement, and boredom. "Well, come on in."

She turns to lead him inside the suite. As soon as he has entered, Kai immediately heads down the hall to where A2's room is. Just as he arrives, the door opens and she emerges from the room, a soft juice drink with straw and a textbook with pen and paper in hand.

"Oh good, you're here." She greets him.

Unnoticed by either of them, a fluffy white cat slips out of her bedroom.

"So, what did you want from me?" Kai asks her bluntly. He wants to get this over with already.

"Right, so the favor I need from you is…" she opens the door further and indicates with an eerily gleeful smile to the pile of stuff scattered all over her floor. "This."

Kai stares for a few moments at the mess. _Her_ mess, to be exact. While the last time he had been here it was already messy enough, it would seem that over the last two days or so it had gotten a good deal worse. Aside from her books, papers, writing utensils, clothes, garbage, and the pile of metal that was present before, now, there is also spilled sand from the cat's litter box, a few folders and binders, a printer, two gaming consoles and a few games scattered about.

"Please clean this up for me to the best of your ability." She asks happily.

He snaps out of his amazement and turns to her, "You expect _me_ to clean all of _this_ up?"

"Why, yes. By condition three, as long as it's not illegal, directly against the other conditions of the contract, publicly embarrassing, or nonsensical in wording, you are bound by the contract to obey my command – whatever it may be." She repeats some of the terms of their pact to him. "So I fully expect you to do what I had just asked."

Kai stares grumpily at her for a few moments.

"It's not illegal for you to clean my room, right? Nor is it directly in violation with any of the other terms, right?" She asks with a big smile. She then adds. "And since this is just my room, there's no public crowd that will see you clean."

'What did I sign myself up for…?' Kai curses mentally before turning from her.

"I get it." He tells her. "I'll do it."

"Good! Make sure you put the books somewhere where they are in plain view. Other than that though, you can put things wherever you want as long as the room looks neat." She tells him as she leaves to go to the living room. "Thanks a bunch!"

Kai stares at the pile on the floor for a while. Back home, he had never had to clean something like _this_ up; he had a butler at the mansion and he wasn't a particularly sloppy person either. Where should he even start cleaning from?

'She's doing this to spite me…' He concludes mentally. He then recalls how unhappy she had been with the whole arrangement in the first place and how detailed and well explained that packet was. He was certain that no textbook would go so far as to derive every step of an equation and label each step with the trigonometric and algebraic identities used to get there. This could only mean that the girl herself wrote them up for him. 'Then again, it was practically forced on her after all. If not for me, she wouldn't have to spend time writing up instructional packets with practice problems.'

'I wonder how long that packet took her…' Kai ponders in his mind as he picks up some of her clothing.

He then looks around. There's no room for him to even move in this room as the floor is practically covered all over. He then spots the open closet near the door.

" _Make sure you put the books somewhere where they are in plain view. Other than that though, you can put things wherever you want as long as the room looks neat."_

'Well she did say I can put them wherever I want to.' Kai justifies as he begins throwing everything except the books into the closet. 'I only have to make this room _look_ neat.'

Out in the living room, girl with long, light colored hair neatly writes the final answer of one of her homework questions. She then looks over the rest of what she did.

'Halfway done.' She smiles at her progress. 'And all in a matter of fifteen minutes, too. Looks like I'll be able to help my clan in-game at camping for Tezza after all.'

"Meow…" the fluffy cat beside her calls to her.

"Hello, there Hika," the girl pulls the cat a little closer to her and gently strokes its back. "Are you happy that I'm almost done?"

"Meow." Hika replies to the sound of her voice.

"My clan's co-leader said that if I show up for just one more epic, I'll be eligible for another piece of epic jewelry." She tells her cat. She then adds, "I can't wait."

A low rumbling sound erupts from the girl's stomach, forcing the girl to take notice of her hunger.

"Oh, right…I forgot about dinner." She then tells Hika, "I'll be right back to grab some food."

With that, she heads off to the kitchen and opens up the freezer. After pondering a little, she takes out a box of microwaveable pizza and begins to open up the box. Her suitemate then comes down the hall towards the door.

"A2, I'm heading out to go to a friend's birthday party." Her suite mate tells her. "Want me to bring back any food for you?"

"Only if there's anything unusual or delicious, like always, please." The girl answers as she places the pizza into the microwave.

"'Kay." Her suite mate replies as she puts her shoes on and opens the door to leave.

As her suite mate leaves, the cat called Hika follows her out the door unnoticed by either of the girls.

A few minutes later, the microwave oven beeps and signals to the light haired girl that her dinner is ready. She promptly takes out the instant meal and begins to consume it. Moments later, Kai comes out of her bedroom and heads towards the door. As he passes by her, he tells her, "I did what you asked."

He then leaves the suite.

The girl soon finishes her pizza and returns to her homework. Looking around, she notices Hika is no longer in the living room. Believing that her cat has simply went off somewhere to hide, she shrugs it off and continues her work.

Kai traverses down the hall and proceeds to take the stairway down to the ground floor. As he does, two girls follow behind him, loudly conversing. He didn't really care what they were talking about; it likely would not be of any interest or concern to him since he doesn't know them but due to their loud volume, he cannot help but overhear them.

"Jessica, I'm sure it's my allergies." One girl protests in response to something the other girl said. "It's too warm for me to have caught a cold."

"Shirley, you don't catch colds necessarily because the weather is cold; it's a viral infection of the respiratory system." The one called Jessica replies. "Besides you're allergic to cats, right? There's no way there are any cats in the dorms; it's against the rules. You should go get this checked out with a doctor before it becomes a flu."

"But I'm telling you, it's not a cold!" the girl called Shirley insists. "And there _is_ a cat in our building! I saw it wandering around the hallway earlier."

'Are they talking about A2's cat?' Kai wonders. He then recalls how secretive she was about it. The girl had stuffed her cat in the closet in an attempt to hide it from him. 'She wouldn't let the cat walk around on its own, would she?'

"Well if it's bothering you so much and you really did see a cat in here, why don't you go report it to the RA?" her friend suggests. "It's probably just a stray that wandered in."

Kai soon exits the building and goes his separate way from the two strangers. 'Whatever, her cat's not really my business.'

...

Later that night, the girl comes out of her shower fully refreshed. She had completed her homework due the next day and she is now free to enjoy the rest of the night however she prefers. She puts back all of her toiletries and enters her now cleared room. No longer are there clutter and clothes all over the floor but the floor is now clear and without a single obstruction.

'He sure did a good job cleaning.' She comments in her mind as she takes in the sight of the clean looking space.

She then proceeds to look for some clothes to wear in her drawers. As she opens the top drawer she is surprised to find it empty.

"Hm?" she stares curiously at it.

'He wouldn't dare to have thrown all of my things out…would he? He couldn't have anyway; I was right in the living room…' her thoughts circulate in her mind as she begins to attempt to deduce what he had done in her room. She then tries the next drawer.

Nothing.

"What the heck?" she exclaims, looking around the room now.

Beginning to suspect that he really had done something unasked for, she checks all of the other drawers.

Zip, Zilch, Nada.

'If he really did throw all of my stuff out somehow, he's going to pay!' She curses him as she checks the other storage compartments in the room.

Having gone through all of the drawers, she now stands before her closet. Grumbling, cursing, and angry, she places her hand on the closet's door knob and turns. As she does, all of her things comes tumbling out, causing her to quickly step back to avoid having it all land on her feet.

'He did _NOT_ do a good job cleaning!' she growls mentally.

Before she could think of something to do as a way to get back at him for this, a shrill sound from her laptop alerts her of a new email message. Deciding she might as well see it while it's on her mind, she goes over to the laptop on her desk and quickly opens the message.

"The residential staff?" she reads out the sender's name. "What do they want?"

She then read the rest of the message to herself.

"To all residents,

It has been brought to my attention that a white cat with collar has been sighted within the residence hall today. As you all should know, the school strictly forbids keeping any pets other than small fishes or turtles. Therefore, tomorrow, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., there will be an inspection of all rooms and suites in the building.

Sincerely,  
Freja Olafsdottir  
Residential Director"

The girl stared at the screen for a few moments. She then storms out of her room and checks every part of the apartment possible for her cat.

'No way!' she checks the kitchen's cupboards. 'They're not talking about Hika, are they?'

Knocking violently on one of her suite mate's doors, she shouts, "Renée, have you seen Hika anywhere?"

The door opens and a girl with dark brown hair answers. "No, is she missing?"

Not bothering to answer the question as she deemed it obvious anyway, she knocks on another of her suite mate's doors, "Sveta, is Hika in your room?

The girl called Sveta answers the door, "No she's not."

She then checks her other suite mate's door while both girls watch her, quite confused. Finding it open, she enters and looks around, "Hika!"

No response.

"No way…" the girl mumbles in disbelief.

...

Kai gives up on his quantum mechanics homework.

It was pointless. He was nowhere near caught up with the course as he had only just finished the material from the calculus packets and that is only half of what he needs to know in terms of the mathematics. There was just one question he was able to answer however and that was only because it was practically the same as one of the derivations in the chapter with some signs switched.

'Well, I tried my hardest.' Kai sighs in defeat. 'Better than last week's homework, at least.'

He gets out of his seat, closes the shades on the window and throws off his shirt to go to bed. He glances at the clock before switching the lights off. It was already one thirty in the morning.

'Will I really be able to catch up?' he wonders as he climbs into his bed. 'That girl did say she'll give me the next packet by Wedsnesday…'

His thoughts are interrupted when someone furiously rings his suite's doorbell. Over and over the sound waves from it fills the room and pierces his ears, causing a very uncomfortable ringing in his head. Kai can tell whoever it is must really be desperate or something.

Kai turns over and puts his pillow over his ears. 'Who would ring the doorbell at this hour…? And this intensely?'

Some commotion from the door soon follows as one of his suite mates who were having a quiet little gathering with his friends in the living room answers. He then finds the noise growing louder as the source of it approaches his room in the hallway. Without warning, his door bursts open, causing him to sit up from his bed and see who it is. His tutor, the girl called A2, stands very much out of breath at his bedroom door, sloppily dressed and holding the wall for support. Behind her is his suite mate who is very confused as to why this girl suddenly forced her way into their suite.

"I…" she begins, still catching her breath and sinking onto his floor. "I need…another favor."

Kai continues to stare dumbfounded by the fact that she had burst in at past one in the morning.

'What the hell? Seriously, _what the hell_!' Kai repeats over and over in his mind.

Despite her clearly, physically inferior condition at the moment, she goes on to issue him a command, "Help me…help me find Hika! I order you!"


	5. For A Fluffy Little Cat

### For A Fluffy Little Cat

"Help me…help me find Hika! I order you!" The girl called A2 commands from her collapsed, tired position at his bedroom door.

'Who or what is Hika?' Kai asks in his mind, very confused by the whole situation. 'And how in the world does she even know where I live? I don't even remember ever telling her!'

Kai continues to sit and stare from the far end of the bed, watching as the girl catches her breath on his floor. His suitemate, feeling as if he does not belong in this mess, eyes the two of them before taking a step back and towards the living room.

"Hey, I'm gonna go and leave you two alone, 'kay? Bye!" He disappears off.

Snapping out of his stupefied state, Kai gets off his bed, makes his way to the girl, pulls her up by her arm to pull her fully into his room and then slams his bedroom door shut. Turning to the girl, he asks her in a harsh tone, "Okay, before I do anything for you, I have a few questions I want answers to."

"Go on." The girl replies calmly. It would appear she has regained her usual composure now.

"First, how in the world did you find out where I live?" Kai demands from her. "I don't recall ever telling you."

"I hacked the school's database." She replies nonchalantly.

"You…what!?" Kai exclaims, astonished. He then tells her, "You realize you can get in trouble for that, right? We made a deal so I need you to stay out of trouble and refrain from getting kicked out of the school before the semester's over."

"Please, don't treat me like some noob hacker." She states in a relaxed tone. "I only viewed the files that concerned individual dorm assignments; I wasn't dumb enough to change anything in the system. The school won't spend the time or the human resources to find a hacker who did no harm – especially if it means going through a few hundred proxies and fake IP addresses to do so."

"…Fine." Kai accepts her reply. "But to do that you needed my name, didn't you? Since you never asked for it, I never told you that either."

"Last Monday." She tells him.

"Last Monday?" Kai repeats.

"You used my computer to access your schedule on the school's website, did you not, freshman?" she asks, trying to pull her arm free from him now.

Realizing he was still holding her, Kai let's her go. He then answers her. "What about it?"

"I'm not blind, nor do I have Alzheimer's Disease; I saw your full name on the screen." She points out.

"…Fine." Kai accepts her answer again. He then asks, "And 'Hika'? Who or what is this…'Hika'?"

"My cat." She answers him.

"So that _was_ your cat." Kai recalls the two girls he overheard earlier as he was leaving her dorm building.

"You saw her?" she asks.

"No." Kai answers.

They stay silent for just a moment as the girl probes him, clearly not satisfied with his answer.

"So?" Kai decides to move on from their moment of uncomfortable silence. "How do you want me to help you find your cat? And if you don't mind, can it wait 'til tomorrow? It's late and I have class in the morning."

"It absolutely cannot wait." She insists.

"Why?" Kai asks.

Taking out her laptop from her bag, she opens the lid and shows him an email she had received some time earlier. "My name is on the back of Hika's collar so if they catch her, I'll be caught in the same net."

"Oh." Kai reacts dully after reading. He had somewhat expected the school to notice her cat at some point. "So you absolutely want to do this tonight."

"Why _else_ do you think I'm here." She growls through gritted teeth.

Kai sighs. "Fine, but how am I supposed to help you?"

"You will be helping me sneak into some girl's room on the third floor of my dorm building." She tells him.

"What!?" Kai looks at her as if though she were crazy. He refuses her, "No way!"

"Yes, way. You're bound by contract." She returns.

"Yeah, as long as it's not illegal, publicly embarrassing or nonsensical." Kai points out. "Did you forget the conditions you set up yourself?"

"I did not." She replies coldly. "But your role will not be in violation of any law. Since no one will be watching you at this hour, it's not publicly embarrassing either. You've shown me clearly that you understand my objective too so…"

"And what about you?" Kai asks her, cutting her off. He repeats his previous statement to her, "As I said before, you are bound by contract to tutor me and ensure that I pass that class. I can't exactly have you getting in trouble and getting kicked out of the school right now when I don't have someone to take your place."

"I'll be fine." She tells him, stubbornly. "I've already checked out the resident's schedule; she has no classes Tuesdays and Thursdays. According to a social networking site she uses, she will be out with her boyfriend and some friends for the next four hours."

"You intend to use this time to break in." Kai deduces.

"Correct." She answers.

Kai then asks, "How do you even know your cat's there?"

"I know because that room is where her name tag's signal has been coming from for the past hour and a half while I was looking up your dorm assignment." She tells him. She then adds. "And 'my cat' has a name for a reason!"

"You're certain your cat's in that girl's room based on some form of tracking device you placed on the cat's name tag, right?" Kai ascertains, ignoring her comment about the cat's name.

"Yes." She grumpily answers, unhappy that he's ignored her request regarding her cat's name.

Kai sighs again. "So what am I doing? It better be quick…"

The girl pulls out what looks like a toy cigar and hands it to him.

Accepting it, Kai asks, "What is this?"

"A fake cigar." She tells him.

"I know that, I mean what for." Kai clarifies.

"So you can pretend to smoke." She answers.

"Huh?" Kai looks at her completely confused. "And how exactly is me pretending to smoke going to help you catch your cat?"

"You'll be my look out while I break in from the outside using the tree in front of the window area." She explains. "Don't worry, even if on the offhand something goes wrong, no one will be able to prove you're my accomplice and I will have an escape route. Also, the phosphorescent paint I used to make that toy you're holding isn't very toxic either so for the short duration I'll need, there will be no long term effects."

Kai examines the toy a little and takes note of the neon-orange painted tip. He wonders, 'Phosphorescent paint? Where does she get this stuff? She couldn't have bought it just now…Then again I might have seen a jar of it in her room…'

A2 goes on, "Once inside, I should take about ten minutes max. Your job is to make sure that when I enter and leave, no one will be in a position where they can see me; you'll basically play decoy for any curious passersby. Got it?"

Reluctant still, Kai agrees, "Got it."

...

The crickets' song choruses noticeably in the grassy area behind A2's dorm building as Kai stands a little ways away from a lamp with a fake cigar in his mouth. Glancing around now and then, he hopes that no one will come by or that if they do, they will not notice that the fake cigar does not have any smoke coming out of its tip.

'How in the world did I get involved in this…' Kai mentally asks himself. When he had agreed to the girl's little payback condition, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he'd be helping her break into some random person's room at past two in the morning so she can find a lost little cat.

The night breeze brushes him a little, its touch, quite chilly at this hour. Luckily for him, he has been through far worse during his various training sessions in the frozen tundras of Siberia. Noticing no one around, he takes a step back and eyes the area around the window of the targeted room for a sign of A2 in hopes of being able to go to bed soon. Seeing nothing still, he returns to the spot he had been previously standing at and continues on waiting.

Another few minutes pass. By now, Kai is starting to feel as if the girl is taking far too long. He takes out his phone and checks the time. The girl had entered through the window at two eleven but now it is almost halfway to three. Looking around to make sure no school police on patrol at this hour are around, he takes another peek at the window.

'The lights are still out so I doubt anyone got back to the room and this building is all singles…' He then wonders, 'Did something happen in there? Maybe she can't find the cat or it's not in there?'

Beginning to get a little worried, he sends a text to the number she had given him before they started their little operation to ask for her progress. Waiting around a bit more and checking his phone every now and then, he realizes that it is almost two forty now and there is still no sign of her nor a reply via phone.

'Could it be she somehow got caught?' Kai wonders, taking another look behind the building. It wasn't as if he cares if this girl gets in trouble or not but for now, he needs her to help him get a decent grade in his quantum mechanics class.

Worried that he might lose his one and only tutor for that class, he takes one last glance around the area before quickly dashing to the tree in front of the window and climbing it to peek inside the room. Not able to see anything inside the dark space through the glass, he reaches for the window and opens it with relative ease.

"A2," he calls inside in a low voice. From where he is, if she _is_ in the room, she should be able to hear him.

Hearing no response from her, he calls again just slightly louder, "A2?"

"Quiet, fool." Her voice, barely above a whisper, answers him. "There's people in the living room."

"Are you almost done?" Kai asks.

"I'm already done, I'm just waiting for the living room to clear up so I can leave through the front door." She tells him.

"Weren't you going to leave through the window?" Kai asks.

"I changed my mind." She answers. "I can't carry Hika while I'm climbing down from a tree."

"Then give her to me and I'll get her down for you." Kai tells her.

"No!" she refuses. "How are you going to get down with her if I can't?"

"Come on, I don't have all night!" Kai insists.

"I said no!" she grumbles. "I don't care if _you_ get hurt, but I'm not risking Hika's safety!"

Tired and annoyed by her stubbornness, Kai climbs inside the room to try to take the cat from her to get this over with already. "Just give the cat to me."

"I told you, NO!" she almost yells, taking a few steps away from him.

Before Kai gets a chance to say anything in response, the sound of a key being inserted into a lock sounds, causing both Kai and A2 to immediately freeze with the fear of being discovered. Glancing around the dark room quickly, Kai notices the large closet near the door that A2 also had in her room. Remembering the size it was and believing it capable of holding two people, he grabs hold of A2 by the shoulder and shoves her into the closet before joining her himself and throwing the closet door closed.

Just as he did, the door to the room opens. From inside, through the crack in the door of the closet, Kai can see light permeating the room as the lamp is turned on.

"I could have sworn I heard someone just now…" a female voice sounds in the room.

"Are you sure?" a male voice asks. "Maybe it's just one of your suitemates next door."

By the sound of the conversation, Kai guesses that the resident of the room must have brought back a guest.

'It's late…' Kai tries to peek out through the narrow crack of the closet door. 'Are they gonna be up for long? Maybe the girl will go to sleep and the guy will leave…'

"Shoving me in a smelly hole like this will cost you." A2 growls menacingly against his chest, having been squished up against him by the pile of clothing, dirty laundry and suitcases stored in the tight space.

"Quiet." Kai tells in her in a low voice. "Unless you'd rather get caught."

A2 complies, although begrudgingly.

The two of them then listen to the sounds outside the closet and hope that the resident of the room who had just returned might leave the room or go to sleep soon. However, to their dismay, after the girl and the guy with her dropped off their things on the desk, they proceeded to the bed for a purpose other than sleep. Since then, sounds of smooching, moaning, and groping were all too audible for Kai's and A2's tastes.

"Listen, as soon as they either fall asleep or leave, we're going, okay?" Kai whispers to her as he takes this chance to take the cat out of her arms.

"What are you doing?" she whispers, trying to stop him, holding onto the cat as best she can.

Beginning to struggle with one another for the cat, this ultimately causes the cat, Hika, to growl angrily and try to attack them both. The erotic noises from the bed stop.

"Did you hear that just now?" the female asks.

"I didn't notice anything." The male replies.

"I thought I heard a cat…" the female says, probably looking in the direction of the closet.

"There are no cats in your room, Shirley. Maybe you're just paranoid because of your allergies. Come on, let's continue." The guy urges her.

"Wait!" the girl called Shirley stops him. "Do you…have a…"

Kai feels his phone vibrate against him inside his pant pocket.

'A text? Who's could it be at this hour?' He reaches for it to turn it off in case the vibration from it is audible outside the closet.

As his hands dig into his pocket, a moan from a location surprisingly close to him erupts. Before he knows it, he feels something hit him hard on his face.

"Hey!" he hisses as quietly as he can. Knowing who it came from, he asks in a quiet voice, "What was that for?"

"You know what it's for." She angrily replies in a whisper through gritted teeth.

The girl called Shirley speaks again.

"David, I'm really scared. I think something's in my closet…" she tells her boyfriend.

A sigh is heard. "Look if you're that scared, then let's just take a look and get this over with."

As the male's footsteps steadily approach, Kai can feel his heart stop. This was it. They had screwed up. He will be done for. How will he ever explain this to his grandfather...

"I can't believe I have to use this..." A2 mumbles as she pulls out a metal bottle from her bag and begins to yank the cap off.

Kai can hear the guy place his hand on the handle of the closet door now. Any second, he will be caught in a very awkward situation. If he is extremely lucky maybe he can somehow find a good reason for why he is hiding in some random girl's closet with a cat and a crazy girl. If he could do that, maybe he could convince the girl and her boyfriend to let, at least _him_ , go...

As the door is about to be pulled open, A2 successfully pulls off the cap to the bottle she is holding and whispers to Kai. "Here we go, hold your breath!"

Before he knows it, Kai's vision becomes one blank fog of purple.

"What the hell!" the guy called David's voice shrieks as he steps back from the closet he just pulled open to see a fluffy, purple cloud growing out from it. The dense colored smoke expands quickly and soon fills up the room, making navigation by vision practically impossible.

"Oh my god! Did something in my closet catch fire?" The girl called Shirley panics.

Immediately after that, a loud obnoxious ringing sounds overhead, indicating that the fire alarms have been set off.

Grabbing their clothes, the guy takes his girlfriend and pulls her towards the door. "Who knows, let's just get out of here and let the fire department deal with this!"

Kai then feels a hand grab onto his wrist. A familiar voice tells him, "Come on, now's our chance."

...

Huffing, puffing, and in Kai's case, since he was not entirely ready when the smoke had been released, coughing, A2 and Kai sit at Kai's suite's door. The two of them had used the chaos and confusion caused by the fire alarms to get out through the building's rear exit and have made it all the way back to Kai's dorm. Hika takes this chance to leap out of Kai's grip and hisses unhappily at the both of them before running into the suite and down the hall towards the bedrooms.

Closing the door to his suite, Kai turns angrily to the insane girl beside him and asks her, "What the hell did you do back there?"

Having caught her breath, the girl looks up at him calmly. "I just released pressurized, colored smoke. It's harmless."

"Harmless?" Kai looks at her in disbelief.

"C21H15NO3, also known as 1-hydroxy-4-(p-tolylamino)anthracene-9,10-dione." She tells him. "That's the dye I used. The rest was just white smoke that I collected into a metal drinking bottle. The release wasn't based on an ignition process, only decompression, so it's not explosive, really."

Kai slaps his hand onto his forehead, speechless as that wasn't what he had meant. He wonders how in the world this girl has access to the chemicals and equipment for this crap in the first place. Shrugging it off, he asks her. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you'll be in if they find out you were the one who set off the alarms?"

"Oh relax, by now the smoke should have dissipated and I'm still holding the container from which it was released." She dangles the empty chemical container before him. "I released the smoke as a smoke screen just in time before the guy opened the closet door too so he can't have seen us. Other than that, with that mess of a closet, even if a strand of hair had been left behind, it's insufficient proof for anyone to argue that we were there and responsible. We go to the same school as that girl; we can easily argue that we bumped into her sometime before and conveniently a piece of our hair was stuck on her dirty clothing without our knowledge."

"So you think they won't find out it was you?" Kai asks, amazed how she can be so carefree about all of this.

"Yes, in fact I'm positive." The girl says, assuredly. "It'd take a detective as much effort as solving a regular murder case just to find out who pulled the harmless prank of releasing colored smoke. Use your common sense, people aren't stupid. They have better things to do and more important crimes to solve. Besides, this beats an interrogation by the police for breaking into someone's room, right?"

Kai sighs. 'Whose fault do you think it would be if we _did_ end up getting interrogated right now...'

"Oh, by the way…" she grins devilishly. "I have one more task for you for the night for stuffing me in that girl's nasty closet."

...

The clock's second hand moves steadily around the markings on the clock in the front of the classroom as the teaching assistant goes over an eigenvalue problem on the board, ignoring the two sleeping students in the back corner of the room. After Kai had helped the girl catch her cat, she had made him clean up her room properly since he had previously just shoved everything into her closet. As for the cat, since there will be inspections today, the girl had forced him to keep it in his room along with the cat's food and litter box. Exhausted from the ordeal of the night, Kai now sleeps peacefully amidst his quantum mechanics discussion class. Concluding the lesson, the teaching assistant now takes out a small stack of papers.

"Alright class, I know you guys are probably still not too used to the notation but I have tried to make this quiz easy for you so here you are," he hands the papers to the student at the end of the first row to pass to the others. "You all have ten minutes, it's a short quiz. Good luck!"

Kai feels someone tap him on the shoulder to wake him up.

"Hey, freshman." A familiar, stuck-up voice calls. "Wake up."

Kai lifts his head up a little and turns to see A2 poking his shoulder with the corner of a piece of paper.

"Your quiz." She holds the paper out to him.

Accepting the piece of paper, he takes out a pen, writes his name and begins by reading the quiz question.

"Show that the following relation below is true for a spin-½ particle:

Ŝz=(ℏ/2)|+ **z** ⟩⟨+ **z** |-(ℏ/2)|- **z** ⟩⟨- **z** |"

Kai stares at this. He could not believe his luck! This was the one and only problem he had been able to complete for the homework due today and here it is as a quiz for him to boost up his grade. However, he then realizes something. Despite the familiarity of the question, for the life of him, he cannot remember how he had solved it the previous night.

'Crap…' he curses, looking over at A2 through the corner of his eyes. That girl seems to be able to complete the problem just fine. 'And there I thought I had gotten somewhere…'

He continues to stare some more at the quiz question. Before long, he realizes that there was no hope. He had gotten far too little sleep to possibly remember what he was supposed to do to prove the equation. Cursing in his mind some more, the teaching assistant eventually calls time and Kai grumpily hands in his blank quiz.

'Dammit. Just great…and all for a fluffy little cat.'


	6. All Starz Reunion

### All Starz Reunion

Grumpy and tired, Kai traverses down the hall to proceed to the rest of his classes for the day.

Just moments ago, he had handed in a blank quiz to the teaching assistant of his quantum mechanics class. It wasn't his first blank quiz for the semester in this class. He had missed the first quiz, and his last quiz before this was blank as well. By now, with the addition of this quiz, he had no doubt in his mind that he has succeeded in giving the teaching assistant, and possibly the professor of the course a solid impression that he will either fail at the end or withdraw midway.

Step by step, he continues to make his way down the hall to the stairway. He could feel his weakened ability to keep balance occasionally making him want to just lean on something and sleep. However, having trained hard physically in earlier years, he keeps his cool and attempts to stay focused nonetheless.

"Freshman." A familiar, stuck-up voice addresses him from his side.

Kai glances over to his right to acknowledge A2's presence.

"Eighteen o'clock at my suite this evening. I'll have you do me another favor." She tells him simply before passing by him and then disappearing off at a turn down the hall.

Although both of them had been up all night due to the cat ordeal, A2 is considerably more energetic and awake than he is. The reason for this is simple. While he had spent all of early morning cleaning up her room as soon as the firefighters let them back into her dorm building, she had spent the time between then and their first class napping in her bed, snuggled warmly in a small light blanket. What more, is that even in her sleep, she seems to recall the fact that he has practically unwittingly signed away his freedom for the semester to her as her indentured servant. As soon as the time for class neared, she began giving him a variety of commands. These ranged anywhere from brushing her hair for her while she was still only in a semi-awake state to preparing her breakfast, which strangely, consisted of an inch-thick chunk of butter and a bowl of cereal with nothing but a giant puff of whipped cream and colored sugar sprinkled on top.

'And there she goes again…' Kai mentally comments. The "favor" she needs from him will no doubt be another task that he will take no pleasure in doing.

...

Soon, Kai makes it to his next class. Still as tired as before, he quickly searches the large lecture hall for an empty, back-row seat and proceeds towards it as soon as he finds one. Once settled into the seat, he puts his notebook down and rests his head on one arm and resumes his nap which had been interrupted previously by the quiz during quantum mechanics. It did not matter to him if he did not pay attention during this lecture; the class size is large and the professor is unlikely to notice or even care if he sleeps. On top of that, the class is structured in such a way that the student is really only required to either read the text or listen to the lecture; the two are essentially one and the same in terms of content. Quizzes are inexistent in this class and neither attendance nor participation is required. If not for the fact that a class in which he has a quiz is scheduled immediately after this, he would not have even shown up.

However, as soon as Kai feels himself drifting away to his much missed dreamland, he is awakened and pulled back into reality by a stranger's voice. The voice, soft and timid, sounded from a source close by to him addressing him. He turns to his left to see a very pale girl with platinum blond hair and pinkish eyes. Immediately, Kai notices an uncanny resemblance between this girl and someone else he knows. The girl seems to have asked him a question and it seems he has not replied to her.

"Um…" she shyly tries to continue. "I'm so sorry that I woke you! I have very poor vision so I didn't notice you were asleep until it was too late."

Kai does not bother to answer her. Considering he had chose to sleep in a position meant to camouflage with students who are awake, it was no surprise that someone might actually have thought that he was awake too. He simply waits for her to continue.

"So…" she asks timidly in a low voice, "Is anyone sitting next to you? I thought you might be saving the seat for someone but the rest of the room is full so…"

Kai takes a quick look at the seat. Somehow his notebook is currently occupying the space. He wonders how his notebook even ended up there but figures he must've pushed it off his desk into the adjacent seat when he had dozed off. Removing the notebook and placing it back on his own desk, he answers her, "No."

"Thank you," she tells him politely before sitting down.

Kai nods and resumes sleeping.

Next to him, the girl takes out her own notebook and begins to take notes of what the professor is saying. She occasionally glances over to the sleeping youth beside her but generally does not seem to pay him much mind. Time soon passes by; the professor and the rest of the class begins to leave. Despite the class being over, the girl does not bother to pack her things but instead takes out a sketchbook and begins to draw rough sketches of various things.

An hour ticks by on the clock at the front of the now empty lecture hall. Having grown bored of drawing still objects in the room, the girl turns to her still sleeping classmate and begins to draw a rough sketch of him. Halfway through, Kai begins to stir from his sleep, causing the girl to stop as he is no longer in the same position.

Kai opens his eyes slowly. Immediately, he notices the silence of the room that was not there when he had fallen asleep. Surprised by it, since he had expected to still hear his professor lecturing, he looks up to find himself staring at the front of an empty classroom.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." A voice greets him cheerfully.

He turns to see the towhead from earlier with a sketchbook in hand. She seems to have been sketching him while he was asleep. Paying the action no mind, he takes out his phone and checks the time. Upon seeing the time, he mentally curses. Not only had he missed the quiz in his next class, but in about five minutes that class will be over. Seeing as there's no point in rushing off now, he turns to the girl beside him.

"Why are you still here?" he asks, curious why she didn't leave despite that the class has been finished for over an hour now.

"I have a class next door in about fifteen minutes from now. I've noticed this room is always empty during this class block so I usually just sit and hang out at this time." She replies. She then comments, "You must've been very tired to have slept for so long though."

"Yeah," Kai answers very briefly, getting up. Now that his classes are done for the day, he might as well go sleep in his own room until around six.

"I'm Linnea, by the way." The girl tells him as he picks up his notebook. "Linnea Laine. It's nice to meet you."

Kai turns to her. The girl appears to be rather…nice, for the lack of a more fitting word. Kai did find her to be pretty. Beyond that, now that he is more awake, he notices she bears a strong resemblance to A2 in terms of facial structure. The even odder part is that she is wearing what appears to be the same necklace as the one in his possession that belongs to A2. He wonders if they're related.

'Well if they are, they certainly seem to be polar opposites of one another in terms of personality…' he mentally notes her shy contrast from A2's bold nature. He then tells her his name, deeming it unnecessarily rude not to, "Kai."

He begins to leave.

"You're leaving?" the girl named Linnea asks.

"Yeah." He states simply while making his way to the door. He then stops and decides to ask, "By any chance, do you know a girl who goes by A2?"

"A2?" Linnea looks at him with a thoroughly confused expression.

Taking her expression as saying she has no idea who he is talking about, he tells her, "Nevermind."

He then leaves the room. 'Guess it was just a coincidence that they look alike.'

...

The skies are lit in vivid hues as the sun prepares to descend beyond the western horizon. Under the slowly dimming light, groups of students who have finished their classes for the day travel about the university grounds, their laughter and cheer filling the late afternoon atmosphere.

Kai walks down the pavement at a casual pace. He had woken up about half an hour past the time he had intended and as a result, he will now be half an hour late to A2's place. He didn't see the need to rush despite that; A2 will likely make a comment about him being late but she is unlikely to care very badly. Moreover, in no way do either of them look forward to seeing one another anyway.

Now halfway to his destination, he looks up at the bulky dining hall of his residential community before him. Seeing as he would save a good deal of time by choosing to cut through it instead of walking around it, he enters and makes his way through the seating area. As he is about to open the door on the other side to leave the place, a voice calls to him.

"Kai?"

The male voice is familiar to him. He turns around and to his surprise, sees a group of three very familiar people at a nearby table.

"Hey, it _is_ you!" Max greets him happily. "I'm so glad!"

"Max, Emily and Michael?" Kai utters their names, surprised to see them.

"Hey, how've you been?" Max asks. "Long time no see."

"Uh…Same." Kai returns, getting out of the doorway to let people through.

"I didn't know I'd be running into you here." Max adds.

"Max and I are just visiting." Emily tells him. "We go to the university next door to here."

"Michael's the one who goes here." Max adds.

"Sophomore, electrical engineering," Michael tells him. "You?"

"First year." Kai replies, careful to avoid the word "freshman" as it reminds him of a certain slave driver. "Business."

"Emily and I are also in engineering but we're doing mechanical." Max replies.

"I see," Kai turns towards the door again. He'd love to stick around and chat but he's already late. While half an hour late might be okay, he wouldn't wanna push his luck too far.

"You gotta go somewhere?" Max asks.

"Yeah." Kai replies as he pushes open the door.

"Hey wait," Max calls him, getting up. "We'll walk you a bit."

Kai turns back to them. "Sure."

Having had a rather unfortunate day thus far, Kai feels glad to have run into some friends. If anything, to the very least he expects this to be a breather for him. As they begin walking in the direction of A2's dorm, Max asks, "So, how've you been doing so far here? I hear it's a tough school to get into."

"It's been alright," Kai answers very briefly. He didn't want to mention the part of him accidentally signing up for quantum mechanics or anything about his new tutor for fear that they'd laugh at him.

"…Oh," Max takes the answer as he didn't want to talk about it very much. "You doing anything other than studying though? I hear there's a club at this school for bladers."

"And I'm part of it," Michael adds proudly. "Most of the bladers aren't very competitive though since the student populace here tends to be rather studious."

"I see," Kai acknowledges. He then adds, "I'll check it out when I have the time."

"Alright," Michael answers.

"So, have you made any new friends here?" Max asks.

Kai takes a moment to decide what to say. The typical answer would be yes, but the closest thing to a friend he's made is that girl, A2, whose relation to him he'd rather keep secret from them.

"No," Kai decides as an answer.

Emily, Michael and Max each look at him a little strangely. Not that they are surprised by this since each of them, and especially Max, knows his personality, but the answer really did come out a bit blunt. However, something catches Max's eye and his expression changes.

"Oh, really…" Max says almost hiding a snicker.

Kai stops walking, wondering what Max is thinking and panicking just slightly. They are now right outside A2's dorm building and Kai would rather not have them know why he's here or who he's here to meet.

"Then what's this piece of hair sticking to your shirt?" Max asks, teasing him. He picks up the light-colored, pinkish, blondish strand of long hair. "It's certainly not your hair."

"That's…" Kai searches for something to say. A2's hair must have stuck onto him when he was hiding in the closet earlier with her.

Above, unnoticed by any of the four, A2 peaks out her window to see what the commotion is about outside. The gleam of the hair strand catches her eye.

"This belongs to a girl, doesn't it?" Max teases while Emily snickers. "Someone you recently met?"

"It's…" Kai realizes there's no point in denying it now. "Yeah."

"Your girlfriend?" Max asks.

"No!" Kai exclaims abruptly, somewhat horrified by the idea.

"Oh…" Max blinks, a bit surprised by his reaction. A similar expression is present on the faces of Emily and Michael. "But I take it you're at least friends?"

"Something like that." Kai says to avoid telling them his actual relationship with her.

"Well, what's she like?" Max asks. "I'm curious."

A2 leans a little closer to hear his reply.

"Is she cute?" Max asks.

"No!" Kai abruptly replies again. While he can consider the girl to be pretty, there was no way in the world he'd ever call her and that stuck-up personality of her's "cute". To reinforce his opinion of this, he adds, "She's the farthest thing from cute."

Above them, A2's expression turns from a bored one into a sour one.

"So…then…" Max tries to continue, again, a little shocked by his reaction. "How would you describe her?"

The question causes Kai to think for a moment. Remembering the mess of a room he had to clean up for her, her strange choice of diet, her ridiculous stream of commands, her ludicrous disregard for school rules, and his blank and missed quizzes from today, every bit of irritation and frustration he has felt thus far for the day returns and takes him over. "She's stuck up, selfish, and lazy."

Upon hearing that, A2 opens the screenless side of her window carefully, making sure it does not screech, before disappearing further inside the room.

Michael, Emily and Max listen silently, all three quite taken aback by his sudden expressiveness.

Kai continues on, "…She breaks a million school rules, her room's a mess, she acts like she's royalty…In general, she's just an endless source of problems for me! She-"

A sudden, cold, wet sensation disrupts him.

Max, Emily, and Michael look up to see a girl with light-colored hair holding out a tilted, half full water pitcher over Kai. Kai, on the other hand, realizes his exact location outside the building now. From the audacity of the action, he figures out who it must have been and does not bother to look up.

"Astraea?" Emily recognizes her.

Surprised that it wasn't who he thought it was, Kai looks up too only to be surprised again that it _was_ who he thought it was.

'Astraea?' Kai repeats mentally. 'Is that her real name?'

"Next time you want to insult someone behind their back, do make sure you're not right underneath their window." A2 tells Kai coldly. She then turns to Emily. "And I told you I do not use that name."

"Ha! I see someone's not changed one bit," Emily remarks. She then asks, "And how come you still haven't graduated?"

"Astraea?" Max's expression begs for an explanation.

"Oh, she interned at one of the PPB's facilities two years ago." Michael explains. "I don't think you've ever met her though since you weren't there that time. She mostly worked with the engineering department but Judy and our team got to know her anyway."

"So is this who you were talking about?" Max asks Kai.

Kai nods in reply, reverting to his normal, silent self.

"It's my business when I choose to graduate." A2 tells Emily coldly. She then turns back to Kai. "By the way, you're late."

"Well, I'm here now." Kai returns.

"By the way, Astraea." Emily calls up to her. "You any better these days?"

A2 glares back. "It's A2."

"Astraea." Emily insists.

For a moment, the two girls stare silently at one another.

"Better what?" A2 asks.

"That illness of yours," Emily specifies.

"I'm fine, thank you." She answers.

'Illness?' Kai repeats in his mind, a little alarmed. He shrugs it off nonetheless; the girl did just say she's fine after all.

"If you all don't mind," A2 goes on. She then indicates to Kai, "I have some business with that…thing…over there."

'So I've been degraded from 'freshman' to 'thing'…' Kai mentally notes. He sighs.

"Oh?" Emily then asks, "Can we come along?"

"Only if you have a sincere desire to do someone else's house chores as a required entry fee." A2 returns. "My chores to be exact."

"We'll pass." Emily answers bluntly. She then turns to Kai. "Well then, it was nice seeing you again."

"Shame we don't get to talk longer." Max adds. "I guess we'll see you around some time?"

"Sure." Kai tells him.

"Well then, we're off!" Max turns to go.

The three of them wave him goodbye as they leave.

Once they've disappeared from view, A2 speaks from above, "Hey thing-down-there."

Kai does not bother to look up.

"You should be grateful that I shooed them away to hide the reason why you're here." She tells him.

"Why'd you bother at all?" Kai asks, not really caring for the answer.

"Because it's what you wanted. Am I wrong?" she then slams her window shut without giving him a chance to reply before disappearing inside.

'Yeah…I did want that.' Kai answers her in his mind anyway. Somehow, he could not help but feel as though his earlier words might have actually hurt the girl's feelings a bit.


	7. An Important Video Call

### An Important Video Call

Kai stands before the stove, a bottle of cleaning solution in one hand and some paper towels in the other.

He sighs.

The stove before him belongs to the suite that A2 lives in. Normally, it would not be his responsibility to clean or take care of it; it neither belongs to him nor does he use it. However, once Max, Emily and Michael left and he came inside, A2 had made cleaning this _his_ responsibility. Reluctantly, Kai sprays the stove top a few times with the cleaning solution in his hand.

Of course, A2 didn't just make him clean her suite's stove; there was no way she'd be that kind to him…

Upon entry, she immediately showed him to a list posted on a wall. The list showed all possible chores in their suite and whose responsibility it is for the week to do them. Naturally, since this week is supposed to be A2's turn to clean everything in her suite, she diverted the responsibility to him instead, calling the gruesome task a "favor".

'Shoo them away to hide the reason why I'm here she says…' Kai complains mentally as he begins to scrub the grime off the stove top. He can still clearly remember her words to Emily when they had asked if they may come along. 'More like she just wants someone to do her housecleaning for her and it doesn't matter who does it…'

He continues scrubbing for some time, all the while remaining silent. Beyond the sound of his scrubbing, the chirps of crickets grow louder outside indicating the transition into evening. The lively sounds of the students' extracurricular activities outside also begin to grow faint. Kai can feel his stomache asking for dinner too.

Suddenly, a voice interrupts him.

"Oh, it's you." The familiar voice said. "You're the guy A2 keeps inviting over."

Kai turns around to see the girl who had previously twice opened the door of the suite for him.

'What does she want?' Kai asks in his mind as he waits for her to state her business.

"Although …" she begins, looking at him with a puzzled look. "Why are you cleaning our stove for us? Are you supposed to be Mordred's replacement?"

"Mordred?" Kai stops and turns around. He is rather confused by who or what Mordred is.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mordred is the robot A2 built to handle all the cleaning and cooking she can't do." The girl explains upon seeing the confusion present on his features. "It got run over by a car two weeks ago while it was out on an errand so I was worried that we'd have to arrange something this week."

'Robot…?' Kai briefly recalls the hunk of metal in A2's room that he had taken note of before. 'Was _that_ Mordred?'

'But why go through so much trouble to make and program a robot?' Kai wonders, resuming his task. 'For someone who's too lazy to even brush her own hair in the morning, this seems counterintuitive. Wouldn't it be easier to just learn to do the housework?'

"So I take it A2 never does the chores herself?" Kai asks coolly while moving on from the stove to the kitchen countertop.

"Nope!" the girl answers him rather cheerfully. "She can't do them."

Kai stops. "She can't do them?"

"That's right, she can't." She leans against the wall, appearing rather relaxed. "I know, everyone in the suite were all skeptical about that too when she first told us. Actually, we thought she was just trying to avoid her responsibilities by making up a silly excuse."

Interested, Kai listens on.

"You see, when we first moved in as a suite two and a half years ago, every time it was her turn to do something she either failed at it or it'd look half-assed. Sometimes, depending on the chore, it would even look like she had done the opposite of what she was supposed to have done." The girl explains. "We tried to talk with her and the more we did the more we hated her because she would never tell us why she couldn't do what she was supposed to; she just kept saying that it was the best she could do. But then one day I woke up really early and I caught her trying to take out the trash in the kitchen by herself."

"And?" Kai returns to his task of cleaning.

"Well, I saw for myself that she wasn't trying to avoid her responsibilities at all." She says. "Try as she might, she couldn't get the bag of trash out of the trash can. She just didn't have the strength for it. I watched her tilt the trash hoping to pull it out more easily only to accidentally drop the whole thing on its side and spill a good portion of it out. The recycle box ended up an even bigger disaster…"

Kai then remembers the cat incident. He had been very tired so he didn't pay much mind to it but she did ask for help climbing up the tree when she was breaking into that girl's room. Emily's question earlier also pops into his mind. He asks, "Is it a medical condition of hers?"

"Probably." The girl answers him. "She never talked about it and I never felt that it was in my place to ask. All I can say is, physically, she's extraordinarily weak."

"I see," Kai acknowledges as he scrubs some dried pasta sauce off.

He begins to reflect on his opinion of A2 so far. Now having learned of her weakness, he realizes the real reason she had him come along for the cat incident. What she truly needed was someone to help her up the tree, not a lookout.

He then recalls his words about her earlier when Max had asked him about her. Her requests weren't really out of spite or selfishness; they were favors that she truly needs and yet, for reasons he can now somewhat see, she probably didn't feel comfortable just blatantly telling him why she needed them. He starts feeling a little guilty now. 'Maybe I shouldn't have said all of the things that I said about her…'

Suddenly, a door in the hallway bursts open. Kai and the girl turn to see A2 walking quickly into one of the bathrooms, her white dress noticeably smeered at the upper front in what appears to be a dark, crimson fluid. Out of concern, the two of them approach the outside of the bathroom and her suitemate knocks lightly on the door.

"A2?" she calls through the door. "Are you okay in there?"

Kai turns and takes a glance into A2's room. She had left her door open in her hurry and visible from the outside is an array of wrenches along with a variety of metal parts all laying on the floor about an unfinished, metal humanoid structure on a secured low platform. What he noticed beside that was a large quantity of crimson stained tissues laying around her trash bin.

'Did she get hurt?' Kai tries to deduce what had happened. It doesn't look like she was painting anything in there so that crimson stain was probably not paint or ink but blood.

"I'm fine." A2 answers as she emerges into the hall, holding some tissues to her face. She then turns to Kai. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Kai turns from the sight in her room. He feels as though he should apologize to her for having called her selfish and lazy but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to do so. He then asks, "Are you…okay?"

"I said I'm fine." A2 repeats for him in a seemingly annoyed tone. As she proceeds back into her room, she adds, "You should go back to work if you want to go home early instead of making a spectacle out of _me_ ; it was just a mere nosebleed. Or perhaps something so simple amuses your inferior mind?"

Just this moment, Kai forgot all of the guilt he was feeling just a little earlier. Angrily, he replies to her, "I will."

Her suitemate eyes them both as Kai returns to his assigned chore and A2 closes her door lightly behind her, leaving it slightly ajar. Sighing, she joins Kai in the kitchen shortly.

"What in the world did you do to get her to treat you this badly?" she asks, somewhat amused.

"How should I know?" Kai answers nonchalantly, continuing with the cleaning.

The suite is silent for a moment, but then something pops into Kai's mind.

'Isn't she always like this?' he wonders. Her temperament had been pretty consistent so far after all; at least towards him. The way that Shin guy had spoken of her hardly implied any difference towards other people.

Out of curiosity, he asks, "Is she usually nicer to other people?"

"Well," the girl begins. "I've seen her insult people online whenever she was playing out in the living room but generally she's…simply quiet."

'Well she probably would have never said a word to me that first day if I didn't ask anything of her…' Kai notes in his mind.

"Anyways, I gotta go now," the girl interrupts his thoughts. "I'm on the student council and as the vice president, I kind of have to show for the meetings."

"Sure, 'bye." Kai tells her half-heartedly.

"By the way, I'm Milena but just call me Milly." She adds as she begins to leave.

"Kai," he returns.

Putting her shoes on, she yells back to him one more time, "Bye!"

Following that, the suite is silent again. Throwing out the grime-smudged paper towel, Kai checks off another chore on the list. There are three chores left to do: take out the trash, clean the bathrooms and clean the living room. From the darkness of the living room, Kai can tell the sun must have already set. Luckily the first and last chores seem fairly quick; he can take out all of the trash in one go on his way out and the living room is not very packed so wiping the surfaces should be easy.

Moving onto the remaining tasks, two hours soon tick by. Having finished two of the remaining three chores, he knocks on A2's door to let her know of his progress so he can proceed to the trash part and depart home. He stands outside her door for a bit, waiting for an answer.

Hearing nothing from the inside, he knocks again.

Receiving no answer again, he calls out to her. "A2?"

Again, no response.

Despite this, he can tell from the crack between the ajar door and the wall that the lights are on inside. In fact, since the door is left ajar, he is certain she had heard him. 'Is she just not answering me?'

"A2, I'm about to take the trash out and leave." he tells her through the door.

Once again, no response. 'Well the door _is_ open…'

Kai pushes the door slightly causing it to swing open more. Surely she will make a comment about proper door manners any moment now.

Surprisingly, the atmosphere remains silent.

Now opening the door completely, he looks around her room. Everything more or less looks about the same except…

"A2!" Kai exclaims a moment after he notices her fallen figure collapsed against the wall a little ways beside the door frame. There were some tissues in her hand from earlier, all stained with a considerable amount of dried blood and her dress was more badly stained than it was before. He drops the clipboard with the chore list now and bends down to shake her. "Hey, A2, wake up!"

'She better be alive…' he checks her breath, careful not to touch the dried blood smeared on her face.

Feeling her soft respiration on his finger sends relieve down his spine. 'At least I don't have to deal with a dead body…'

A2 stirs a little, eventually beginning to blink her eyes open. She mutters, "It's you…"

She pushes herself weakly off the wall and begins to get up.

"Hey, are you…" Kai begins to ask but is cut off.

"I'm fine." She insists, having anticipated his concern. She makes her way, with much effort to the bathroom.

Kai waits outside as she begins to wash her face. As soon as she was done, she proceeds back to her room and slams her door shut. A minute or two later, she emerges again, having changed into a clean dress.

"You were in my room for a reason. What was it?" she bluntly asks.

"I was just going to tell you that I'm leaving." Kai answers her. "Nothing else."

"Wait." She tells him, turning back inside. "I have something for you. You should come pick it up."

Kai follows her back into her room where she heads over to her desk and logs into her laptop. Hooking it up to the printer, she opens up a document and sends something to print. She then tells him, "It'll be done in a second."

Kai nods, leaning on the nearest wall to wait.

As A2 begins to leave the room, a shrill ringtone sounds causing A2 to stop and turn back. Kai immediately locates the source of the noise. In his mind he comments, 'This is one earsplitting ringtone…'

Returning to her laptop, A2 finds someone by the name "Elena" video-calling her over a messenger. Upon reading the name of the caller, she immediately turns to Kai and barks him a command, "Don't make a sound. Pretend you don't exist for a while. Got that?"

Kai slowly nods, a little shocked by her sudden liveliness, especially after the way he had found her collapsed on the floor only a little while ago. He watches as she cautiously waits for the printer to finish printing before answering the call. Checking his own phone, he realizes it is now around eleven at night. He had spent his whole evening here.

A visual of the caller is now shown in the screen. Kai watches as A2 takes a seat before the stern face of a blonde haired woman. The woman is dressed in extravagant clothing and seems quite wealthy.

"You've certainly took your time to pick up my call." She immediately comments. Kai guesses this woman must be "Elena".

"I'm sorry for the delay, sister." A2 replies humbly. "I didn't think you would call at this hour."

Kai stood quite surprised. He didn't think he'd ever hear her speak with such a polite and obedient tone. If only she would at least speak this way with him, he'd feel better about having to do her chores for her…

"I see you're living up to your usual; every time I lay eyes on you there is always something about you that is unpresentable." The woman by the name Elena further comments.

Kai takes a guess she must be referring to A2's somewhat disheveled appearance. Despite having washed off most of the blood that had dried on her face and neck, there was still a bit left visible on her pinkish, blonde hair.

A2 on the other hand remains quiet.

"Regardless," the woman moves on. "I'm calling to hear of your progress on that project."

A2 answers, "It's…going along fine."

"I've been hearing that sentence every time I call for the past three years now." Elena remarks with displeasure. "Frankly, I'm getting quite sick of it."

The woman then goes on to say, "Just so you know, your time is running short now."

"Running short?" A2 repeats.

"Yes, there has been a change of schedule." The woman tells her coldly. "The project must be completed by the last day of November. You no longer have until July of next year."

"But that's-" A2 tries to protest.

"You will make it by that date." She asserts, cutting off the younger girl.

A2 is quiet for a moment.

"Is that understood?" Elena asks.

A2 replies subserviently, "Yes, as you wish, sister."

The woman then hung up.

Immediately, A2 gets up to gather the printed materials from the printer. However, instead of giving it to Kai as he had expected of her, she tugs it under her laptop.

"Weren't those for me?" Kai asks, approaching her. This is a strange girl and he is fully aware of the fact but despite that he really did think those were for him. After all, why else did she tell him to wait...?

A2 does not answer him. Instead, she types away busily on her laptop at lightning speed. Kai walks a little closer and takes a glance at what she is doing on the screen. Multiple windows are opened up and in all of them, strange codes were flashing in and out of the screen, scrolling up faster than he can read them.

Confused by her actions, he asks her, "What are you doing?"

"Hacking into the school's database using what I set up last night." She replies.

"Why?" he asks her.

"Tell me, how skilled are you with machinery?" she asks, ignoring his question completely.

Kai blinks, quite puzzled by what she meant. "Machinery…as in computers or…?"

"Nevermind, I see you've no formal background and apparently, you're no genius either." She dismisses her previous question.

Kai takes another look at her screen. She had brought up his academic records.

"Why are you looking at my transcript?" he asks loudly in protest.

She does not reply but types some long code into an open, blank window. Moments later, sixty or more browser windows opens and fills up her screen. As he watches her glance through them, he notices they are all news articles dating back up to a couple of years, each with his name or picture on them from either when he had been competing in various tournaments or when some announcements were made of his grandfather's company that involves him.

"What are you-" Kai is cut off by her.

"I need another favor." She tells him. "Tomorrow, I will send you a text with directions. You are to meet me at the designated location as soon as your classes end."

* * *


	8. A2's Earring

### A2's Earring

Kai sits quietly at the back of the classroom, staring blankly at the face of his teaching assistant lecturing at the front about medieval history. Although much more interactive than his lecture the other day by his professor, nonetheless, he does not pay it any mind.

The night before, A2 had essentially told him to follow a set of directions that she will give to him today, shoved a new packet in his hands and then kicked him out of her suite. The most curious part was the fact that she was looking at his transcript right before that. However, despite his attempts, she would not give him any reasons for why she did so, citing the fifth condition of their contract as grounds to refuse him information.

'Why in the world would she need to see my transcript?' Kai wonders in his mind as his eyes aimlessly wander from the teaching assistant's face to the left outside the window. 'What could she possibly need me to do this time anyway?'

He then remembers her question about his skills with machinery and the machine she seemed to have been working on in her room. 'Does she need help fixing her robot?'

Not that he'd be much help in that; he has not the slightest expertise on robotics nor any fields related. He then wonders, 'But if it's the robot, isn't it in her room? Why would she need to meet with me at some arbitrary location? Don't tell me she needs me to go pick out parts for her at some junkyard…'

Kai sighs, cursing his luck for having to deal with all this. To the very least, A2 had assured him she intends him no harm in viewing his transcript.

'Then again…' Kai stares up at the clouds as he recalls what he had learned the previous evening and the state he had found A2 in just when he was about to leave. There certainly seems to be a high probability that something was wrong with A2 health wise. 'She can't do strenuous work. Is this another favor to compensate for that? And what could be wrong with her?'

He then forces himself to stop thinking about it. 'Even if she is sick, it's not like she ever plans to tell me what it is anyway…'

A small poke on his arm interrupts his thoughts. Kai turns to his right to discover Linnea, the girl from the day before sitting next to him. Not that he cared who was near him, but he was a little startled since he doesn't remember her being next to him.

"Hey," she whispers to him with a cheerful smile. "Good morning."

"Yeah?" he replies quietly.

"Uhm…I got here rather late, could you tell me what happened earlier in the class, please?" she asks politely.

"Sorry…" Kai apologizes. "I wasn't paying attention…"

"Oh…" she reacts with a bit of disappointment. "It's okay, just forget I asked."

Kai turns back to the window.

Soon the teaching assistant ends the class, but not without commenting on people chatting amongst themselves and arriving ten minutes before the end of the class. Gathering his things, Kai gets up to leave and makes his way down the stairs to the outside. He gazes up at the bright, blue sky for a moment. 'What should I do now?'

There is still about an hour before his next class, Quantum Mechanics. A2 still hasn't given him the directions she promised him yet. He also hasn't had his breakfast yet. Lastly, there is no guarantee that he will have a chance to eat anytime soon after his last class.

'Guess I might as well get some food while I can…' he decides.

...

Having arrived at the nearest dining hall, Kai browses quickly through the available food options. It wasn't that the choices were too limited but they weren't too vast either. In the week and a half that he had been here, he had already gotten tired of some of the things they offered. Quickly deciding on a random plate of sautéed meat, he grabs it and lines up to pay for the food.

It wasn't long after he had gotten on the line when he notices that it has stopped moving. Looking on up ahead, he notices the reason for the hold up: a girl stood by the cashier digging through her backpack. The cashier sat watching the girl's frantic actions impatiently. A few people behind the girl soon start moaning with dissatisfaction as well.

"I'm sorry," the girl ahead apologizes, "I seem to have forgotten my wallet back at my room…"

"Well I can't let you walk out with that…" The cashier says bluntly.

The girl's voice sounded familiar to Kai. Stepping off the line just slightly, he takes a better look to find that the person causing the hold up is indeed someone he knows. 'Linnea…?'

He steps off the line to approach her before the cashier could get the chance to shoo her off the line to allow the next person to pay for their meal. "Wait."

Linnea and the cashier turn to him as he approaches.

"Kai?" Linnea mutters upon recognizing him. She watches as he stops before the cashier's station.

"I'll pay for her meal." Kai tells the cashier, placing down his own food as well to pay for it all at once.

"Uhm…is this really okay?" Linnea looks up at him shyly. "I mean…I'll owe you…"

"I'm only doing this because I don't want to miss my chance to get lunch before my next class." Kai tells her.

That was only partially true. There were five other students before him if he had stayed where he was on the line but they were only holding small amounts of food and he saw at least two of them had their method of payment ready. Thus, ultimately, he hadn't saved much time at all. His real reason for doing this was mostly because seeing Linnea struggle to get a meal made him feel a little sorry for her.

"Well…then…" Linnea seems to be at a loss for words for a moment. "Thank you!"

Kai receives his card back from the cashier after she had checked out both their meals. "No need to thank me."

He begins to head toward a table in the corner of the seating area. He notices Linnea following along behind him.

"If you don't mind," she begins. "Could you allow me to keep you company for your meal as a way of thanking you? I know it's not much…"

Kai sets his food down on the table and glances at her for a moment. He then tells her, "I don't particularly care for company."

Linnea responds with a look of disappointment. "Oh…I see."

She stands there as Kai takes a seat before his meal.

"Well…I guess I'll pay you back what I owe you when I see you in lecture tomorrow then." She tells him as she turns to leave, the look of disappointment still present on her features.

Feeling a little bad about that now, Kai sighs. "If you want to stay, you're free to."

Linnea turns back to him.

"I didn't say you have to go eat elsewhere." He adds.

Linnea responds happily to that and immediately sets down her food across from him. In relative silence, the two of them begins eating. Whereas Kai eats his meal calmly, keeping proper table etiquette in mind, Linnea does not hold back her appetite at all. The sight in fact, reminds Kai a little of Tyson, only less sloppy and slightly more tame. By the time Kai finishes about half of his meal, Linnea had already completely consumed her burger, her fries, her pizza and her drink. Now with nothing to eat and apparently nothing to do, Linnea stares at Kai with the eyes of a curious puppy while he continues on with his meal.

"So…" she attempts to begin a conversation with him. "What major are you?"

Kai calmly continues to chew his food before swallowing. He then answers, "Business."

"Oh, so you're taking Medieval History as a general requirement then?" she asks.

Kai doesn't bother to answer to that as he finds it kind of obvious.

"I'm a biology major and also pre-med." She tells him.

Kai continues eating, again, not saying anything back. When he notices she seems to be waiting for him to say something in response, he says, "Let me guess, you want to become a doctor to help people."

"Yes, I do." Linnea goes on to add, "Although, my teachers throughout much of middle school and high school have said I'm not very cut out for math and science…"

Kai continues with his meal but her last statement did catch his attention. He asks soon after, "Why are you doing a science major if you've been told by multiple people that you suck at it?"

For a moment, Linnea appears a little offended by that but answers cheerfully anyway, "Well…It's because I have a dream I want to pursue."

Kai pauses his meal and looks up at her properly.

"You see, I was born with very poor vision." She tells him. "In fact, I was practically blind."

He was a little surprised to hear that but not too much. People are born with all sorts of disorders; the occurrences are just more common if they come from a poorer country or have poorer genetics. Besides he vaguely recalls her mentioning this before...

She continues on, "I stayed that way for the first few years of my life too, actually. All the doctors in my home country said that there's no way to fix my vision."

"You're not from here?" Kai asks.

"No, I was born and raised in Finland." Linnea tells him. "I'm here just for university."

"And then?" Kai urges her to continue nonchalantly as he continues consuming the remaining portion of his meal. He didn't really need her to say more; he could already see where this is going. Some amazing doctor probably came along and found a fix for her eyes…

"Well, some relatives invited me and my family to stay with them for one summer in Japan." She answers.

Although a little impressed that she had been to his home country, Kai nonetheless waits for her to confirm his guess.

"I hadn't met them before then though, since they are all the way on the other side of the world." she continues. "When my mother told them my about my eyes, they recommended I go to a very accomplished doctor there who specializes in ophthalmology."

"Ophthalmology?" Kai repeats the word.

"It's the study that deals with the physiology and diseases of the eye." She tells him.

"Let me guess, that doctor fixed your eyes?" Kai finally guesses out loud for her to confirm as he finishes the last bite of his meal.

"Oh, no, even he said it wasn't possible." She answers. "Or rather, he said that there was a problem inside my eyes that made the fix too risky."

Kai is a little surprised by that and he listens on.

"But then one of my relatives, my second cousin to be exact, told him a solution to the problem." She then adds, "My mom told me how amazing it was when she pointed out stuff on the image from the CT scan."

"I see." Kai acknowledges. Although not completely on mark, he did more or less guess right. "So from that you decided you'd become an eye doctor when you grow up?"

"Sort of but more like, I saw for myself how useful medicine is for improving quality of life." She says. "I want to become someone who would be helpful to the world…like my cousin was for me."

Kai gets up with his plate to return it to the proper place. "You look up to her?"

"I guess you can say that." Linnea follows him. "Actually, the funny thing about that is she was younger than me by about half a year."

Now this part, Kai is very surprised to hear.

"How old was she when she helped your doctor fix your eyes?" Kai asks of curiosity, now beginning to leave the dining hall.

"Hm…I was about eight years old back then and then I turned nine in the fall…" Linnea thinks for a moment, "Her birthday was in the spring so she was seven? No wait…eight!"

'This girl really shouldn't be doing math _or_ science as a major…' Kai notes her struggle with basic arithmetic as he exits the door of the building.

"You have a class now right?" Linnea asks.

"Yeah," Kai responds.

"Are you free after?" Linnea asks him.

"No…" Kai replies, recalling what A2 had asked of him the night before. "I have some stuff to do."

"Oh…" Linnea looks a little disappointed. "Well, I very much enjoyed your company today."

Kai doesn't bother to answer as he just wants to go onto his last class already. He has about seven minutes to get there before class begins. Not that his professor would care much but he did not want to make a worse impression than he has already made.

"What year are you, by the way?" Linnea asks.

Kai is beginning to feel annoyed by this question as every time he is reminded of the name A2 had been calling him. He answers, "First year."

"Oh, so you're a freshman just like me." Linnea notes.

Kai twitches in irritation upon hearing the word 'freshman' but ultimately holds it in, knowing she couldn't possibly have known. He then tells her, "If you don't mind, I need to go onto my next class."

"Oh, okay." Linnea then bids him goodbye, "I'll see you at tomorrow's lecture then?"

"Sure," Kai says as he leaves.

...

The next lecture for Quantum Mechanics goes by quickly. The professor, as usual, did not seem to care. Interestingly, A2 is absent but sure enough she sent him the set of directions she had promised him by at the beginning of class via text. Once the class ends, he gathers his things and begins heading to the point designated by A2 at the northwest edge of campus grounds.

Arriving, he notices the place is completely surrounded by woodland. If anything he seems to be at the edge of a forest. Looking around, he quickly spots the person he is here to meet.

"You're late." She comments once she was certain he is in range to hear her.

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?" Kai replies to her comment. This has got to be at least the third time she has commented on his lateness. He quickly notices something about two thirds her height standing a little behind her.

Noticing him stare, A2 introduces him to it, "This is RE:Mordred."

"RE:Mordred?" Kai hasn't forgotten his conversation the evening before. He recalls that Mordred was the name of the housecleaning robot she had made.

"It's a remake of an earlier model that got heartlessly wrecked and butchered by some silly car and its coldblooded nincompoop of a driver." A2 explains. "The programming is the same though; I am merely using another copy of the same operating system that I had written for Mordred, the original."

She turns from him.

"So, what am I here to do?" Kai asks. He didn't particularly care about her robot although he did find it interesting that she seems to be referring to them almost as though they were alive.

Glancing back at him, A2 says, "Follow me and you'll find out."

She then begins to lead him into the forest. After a while of walking, Kai cannot help but notice that the forest just appears to keep getting thicker. However, despite that, they seem to be following a trail that is often walked upon. Once in a while, RE:Mordred would snap off a branch or twig sticking out somewhere for A2's convenience. They soon come to a small clearing where only a single tree stands in the center.

"We're here." She tells him.

Kai looks around. For the life of him he could not tell exactly what she means by 'here'. If anything, it looks more to him like he is in the middle of nowhere right now. He then watches as A2 and her robot approaches the tree in the center. He wonders, 'Does she need me to help her climb another tree?'

"Voice Activate: Pass Code 089165A054875SK01277." A2 announces. She then turns to Kai. "You might want to come closer to me."

Kai complies and walks towards her beside the tree.

A digitized voice then replies. "Voice Sample Verified. Appearance recognized. Pass Code Accepted."

Kai begins to scan his surroundings for sources of advanced technology where the digitized voice could have originated. Instead, his search is cut short by a growing quake beneath his feet. Looking around, he sees that a section of the ground seems to be rising and stretching some parts of it nearby, including where he had been standing. What appears to be an entrance to something underground soon fully opens.

"It looks strange to have the ground stretch that way, I know." A2 tells him as she begins to head inside. "This entire clearing on the outside is made from a temperature sensitive polymer that mimics the external appearance of plant life and dirt."

Kai looks around one more time and follows her and her robot inside.

The stairs leading downwards are narrow, but well lit. Kai wonders what kind of place this is. The technology securing it appears to be meant to keep this place's existence from being known.

"So what is this place?" he asks as he continues to follow her down.

"My private laboratory," A2 answers. "It's not affiliated with the university, hence why it is outside the university grounds. The location was chosen for my convenience and the land surrounding it is privately owned by my family although I'm sure they have plans to sell it back out once everything here is either done or relocated."

From this Kai guesses A2 must come from a very wealthy background. 'Explains why her room was such a mess. Must have grown up with someone picking up after her…'

"Does your family fund this place then?" Kai asks.

A2 remains quiet for a moment but then answers, "You could say that."

Kai almost bumps into A2 as she abruptly stops. Looking around, Kai could tell they have arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Still, everything was dark.

"Lights On." A2 says.

A sterile hallway comes into view. Kai immediately notices two doors: one directly ahead and one to the side beside it.

A2 begins leading him down the hall stopping at the side door. She opens up a small box on the wall beside the door and begins to type in a very long alphanumeric code.

Kai looks around him a little. There isn't much to see so far, but already, he can tell the place must be very hi-tech. They were also at least a good distance underground.

"Come in." A2 tells him as the door opens.

Entering, Kai notices the room seems to be some sort of a dressing room. A white sterile looking suit of some sort is lying around and more are hung on a rack in the corner beside another, unused rack.

"Put one of those on." A2 tells him.

"Why?" Kai asks. In his mind, he wonders, 'What in the world am I even going to be doing…?'

"If you don't want a shorter life expectancy, put one on." A2 repeats. "You don't have to take off what you're currently wearing."

Immediately, Kai guesses something must be hazardous if he has to put on a suit of some sort for protection. He asks, "What are you going to have me do here?"

"Just put on the suit already; it's just a few simple tasks. RE:Mordred will guide you through them anyway…" she tells him, putting on a suit over her dress. When she finishes, she then adds, "Don't worry, the tasks I want you to do aren't dangerous as long as you carefully follow my instructions and heed my warnings."

Kai picks a suit out of the rack in the corner.

"Of course, that only holds true if you don't randomly press buttons like a brainless monkey." She adds, pulling over the helmet of her suit.

They exit the room once Kai has his suit on. A2 then opens the other door, the same way she opened the previous one. As she leads him inside, Kai looks around. This room, compared to the hall and the dressing room, seems ridiculously large. In it, are also some of the bulkiest and strangest machines he has ever seen in his life. Not to say he's never been in a lab before; he's seen some very hi-tech labs so far already. He's seen the labs underground at the Abbey, some of the labs at the American PPB's facilities, and even the lab facilities run by some bitbeast hungry scientists, but this is something else. The place appears to be a combination of a factory, and a laboratory. What more is that the machines here seem to be greater than everything else he has seen previously – at least in size.

"Have a seat somewhere." A2 tells him, herself, taking a seat before an enormous monitor.

He complies and looks around for another seat. Finding none, he takes a seat on the closest thing to a chair nearby in front of some strange machine and its protrusions. He then watches as A2 sweeps her hand over what appears to be a touch sensitive keyboard of some sort in a peculiar pattern. Once the keyboard responds, she begins to draw or trace something with her fingertip.

'What is she doing?' he wonders while continuing to watch her.

She soon finishes and turns to him, about to say something. However, instead, she looks up at something above him.

"I was activating the keypad." She says.

Kai looks at her for a moment, waiting for her to say more since that statement was somewhat out of the blue. While it answered what he was wondering about, it didn't have anything to do with anything he said; he didn't say anything to her after all…

Hearing no further comments from her, he looks around some more. Again, the place is huge; machinery is everywhere and none of them he has seen before. He wonders how much funding was put into building the place. 'Did they buy everything? Or was all of this constructed here? But A2 can't possibly have been the one to build it all…not in her condition at the very least…'

"You should keep your nose out of things that aren't your business." A2 tells him.

Kai turns back to her, watching her tinker with what appears to be an earring in her hand. Again he is a little lost as to why she is saying that.

"And by the way," A2 glances in his direction. "For your information, I did build everything here. Or rather...I should say, everything here is designed and engineered by me – including the builders."

Kai blinks for a moment. 'Why is she telling me this?'

"You wanted to know, didn't you?" She responds to his thoughts.

Now, Kai is very perturbed. Yes, he had known that this girl, A2 is very intelligent. Compared to the general populace, she might even be considered a genius, but…

'Since when can she read my mind…?' Kai wonders. 'Or maybe she is somehow predicting what I'm thinking…?'

"Don't insult me, I can't predict what an inferior mind like yours could possibly be thinking and I certainly can't directly read the minds of others." She says, glancing somewhere in his direction. "However, I am reading something and if you're curious, it _is_ right above your head."

Kai looks up. Sure enough there is indeed something right above him. It appears to be some sort of monitor. Getting off his seat and angling his head better, he reads it. Displayed on the messy screen is his thoughts from just moments ago.

"What is this?" Kai asks, backing away from the strange machine.

"An experimental brainwave interpretter. I've named it N-linker." A2 answers, continuing to tinker with the earring. "I was working on it as a compensator for the limits of a different design. It hasn't really been fully tested yet, so thank you for sitting there."

Kai leans back against the nearest empty looking wall of the machine instead now. In some sense, he feels as though his privacy had been invaded. However, he is also relieved that at least he wasn't thinking of anything dirty back there…

"It's too bad I didn't turn the settings onto maximum while you were there, though." A2 goes on. "If I did, I just might be able to read into your innermost thoughts…'

'What.' Kai looks at her astounded.

"I'm joking." She adds, standing up. She then approaches him.

Kai follows her with his eyes as she nears him.

"Stay still," she tells him once she is in front of him.

He complies as she opens his helmet. She then proceeds to fixing something to his left ear, presumably the earring she was messing with. As he is about to ask why she is putting an earring on him, she stops him.

"Don't worry, there's no health hazard opening your helmet here; all the dangerous things are further back." She says. "And don't move or I'll have to do this all over again."

Kai stays still as requested but feels a little strange. This is the first time he's ever allowed a girl to be so close to his face. From this range, he could not help but trace the girl's features with his eyes. Furthermore, her scent is now much more noticeable. Try as he might to resist it, he cannot help but become intoxicated by it quickly.

She soon finishes and pulls back from him. Reaching up with one hand, he tries to feel the earring she put on his ear but she stops him.

"Do me the favor of not messing it up; It's kind of delicate." She says.

"What's this for?" Kai asks.

"The exam next week." A2 answers.

"The exam?" Kai repeats.

"You need to pass this class with a good grade, do you not?" she reminds him.

Kai nods, still confused as to what this has to do with the earring she just put on him.

"You're not going to be able to catch up in time to get a good score on that exam." She tells him. "There's no way your brain will have the capacity to absorb the rest of the information before then even if I can write it up for you."

Kai is about to protest but she goes on.

"That earring will be a simple solution around that." She tells him.

He is still confused. "How in the world is an earring going to help me pass my exam with a good score?"

A2 smiles devilishly. "Oh, it won't be the one helping you."

Kai raises an eyebrow. If anything her statement just added to his confusion.

"I'm the one who will help you." She tells him.

Kai waits for her to further explain.

"I modified that earring into a transmitter and receiver." She goes on. "The main components are compact in design, thus they are well hidden on the back of the earring. I've also ensured that the phonons cannot propagate far in air so no one near you should be able to hear anything from it other than you. On the other hand, the microphone has a large pick up range. You should be grateful that I've modified such an important item of mine for your sake."

Kai looks at her for a moment. From everything he had just heard, it sounds like she wants to have him cheat on his test somehow. "Hey, wait-"

"And yes, it's called cheating…" she cuts him off and affirms his suspicion, looking away from him, annoyed. "Of course, it's something I am completely against, but what choice do I have when I have such a far-from-brilliant pupil; you'd fail horribly and I'd fail to uphold my end of the contract."

"And if we're caught?" Kai asks.

"We won't be." She answers. "I will be out of the room by seventeen minutes into the test latest. I'll be at somewhere safely away in about three more minutes after I get out. The remaining forty minutes should be enough for you to write down the answers I give you."

"And you're certain that no one will be able to hear this?" he asks.

"I tested it quite extensively this morning." A2 tells him. "In order to hear it, your ear must be within a maximum range of seven centimeters. No one will be sitting close enough to you."

Kai scans her for a moment, hesitant to trust her on this. After all, one mess up and they'd both be expelled…

Kai sighs.

"By the way…" A2 holds out a rectangular electronic item before him. He looks at her for a moment. For some reason, she suddenly looks awfully gleeful…

Kai accepts but asks, "What is this?"

"Your tasks for today; you will be working here in my lab for the remainder of the semester as a favor to me." A2 answers. "I'm not tutoring you and ensuring you pass for free, you know. So…"


	9. LPF-01 Nymph

### LPF-01 Nymph

Kai sits in his quantum mechanics class, staring blankly at the chalkboard. It has already been two days since he had begun working for A2 at her lab.

In this time, he had started getting used to the lab's interior structure and the instructions provided by RE:Mordred. Nonetheless, he still has no understanding of any of what he is doing in her lab. Secretive A2 had made sure to only allow him do simple coordination tasks that require almost no thinking and to run the odd errand every few hours. Additionally, on Thursday morning, he had returned A2's cat, Hika, to her as she had requested of him. To the very least that had been without incident. Afterwards, to minimize suspicion during the first midterm exam on the coming Tuesday, A2 had told him to start wearing the earring she modified for him on a daily basis. To that, he had complied; their plan for him to pass the exam was risky enough as it is, after all. However, there were just a few things that had been a bother to him consequentially…

First, he cannot help but notice that the earring that A2 gave him seems to be oriented towards women in design. Not only is it not his style, but as a result, it does not go well at all with about half of what is in his wardrobe. Second, the earring, mostly teardrop-shaped in design, consists mainly of a deep purple crystal dangling in a silver frame. If anything, they resemble something you'd see on a woman attending a soirée. Everywhere he went, the earring practically screamed for attention through its shiny design alone. In addition to the guys in his suite who had noticed it, even random people he had passed by seem to be taking note. In fact, Linnea, the girl he met earlier in the week, had practically spent the entirety of yesterday's medieval history lecture staring at it until he left the lecture hall out of sheer annoyance. The final thing about it that bugged him was the fact that, due to the purpose of him wearing it now, A2 had been wearing a symmetrically identical one on her right ear. Since he sits relatively close to A2 in his quantum mechanics class, this has led to some unnecessary comments amongst some of the more gossipy students.

"Okay, it is about time to end class. I have to go attend a meeting so I will see you all Monday!" the professor says as he takes his things and rushes out the door.

Kai, having nothing to pack away, gets up and stands before A2. He takes this chance to get her attention. "Hey,"

A2 does not respond but continues packing away her laptop. Two girls at the front of the room begin whispering something upon noticing them together.

Knowing that she won't respond unless he states his business, Kai gets straight to the point, "Think you can do something about this earring? It kind of stands out."

A2 looks at him nonchalantly. "Oh? In what way?"

Kai looks back at her, irritated. "You _do_ realize how this thing looks on me, right? And the fact that you're wearing something that matches it doesn't make things any better."

"Then don't wear it." She says simply as she gets up from her seat to go. "I'm not the one who needs help."

"Can't you remake the modifications on a different pair?" he asks, following her out of the classroom and down the hall. "Like on a simpler one?"

"That's the only pair of earrings I have." she replies, continuing to go down the hall without looking back at him.

"Then how about I buy you another pair of earrings?" Kai offers. "Can you change them then?"

A2 continues walking down the hall at a steady pace for a little while without answering. She then asks, "Tell me, how long do you suppose it took me to modify those earrings for you?"

Kai stops, a little taken aback by the question. How was he supposed to know this? Was he supposed to take a wild guess? It's not as if he was there for the entire duration of time she had spent working on them; at best he saw her tinker with it at the last minute.

"It took nine hours, discounting the time it took to program and design the audio systems, the receiver-transmitter core, and the circuitry." A2 answers her own question for him a few moments later, stopping by the stairwell door a little ways ahead of him.

"You can't just take the modifications off and reattach them onto a new pair?" Kai asks.

She turns back to him, her expression a mixture of annoyance and something else. "The modifications are made from materials that are far too delicate for that. Crucial components to the system include nanowires that connect the 100 nanometer solar cell battery to the receiver-transmitter core and processing chip. An attempt to remove the system would break these wires and thus render the whole system defunct. This means, in order to put them on a different pair, I'd have to rebuild everything from scratch. Now, maybe _you_ have nothing better to do between now and the day of the exam, but I'm not about to go waste another nine hours just because my earring doesn't cater to your sense of fashion."

She then turns coldly from him to the stairwell and leaves.

'Nanowires…? 100 nanometer solar cell battery…?' Kai repeats in his mind. 'Nine hours…?'

Kai stands stunned for a moment as some students pass him and traverse through the stairwell doors. He had wondered how such a small communication device was made when A2 demonstrated the functionality of the earring to him the other day. The modifications were completely imperceptible to the naked eye except when examined carefully with the aid of a bright lamp where a small change in the interior's reflectivity indicated that there was something inside the transparent back part. He had suspected that the technology involved is at least on the micro scale but certainly he did not expect it to go as far as the nano scale. Moreover, at the time he received the earring, he had only established his contract with A2 for about five days.

'Does this mean that she designed the system in a span of five days?' he asks mentally.

Of course, that would only be possible if she had this in mind since they forged their contract. Otherwise the design would have to have been done even quicker unless it was left over from some project of hers prior to their meeting. Even discounting the time to design, the fact that the modifications were made in nine hours was very impressive for a university student.

'And she developed it for my sake…' Kai notes the fact.

He then recalls the expression on her face as she explained to him why she cannot relocate the modifications onto a different pair. Although she was clearly annoyed with his request, there was certainly something more than just that despite its faint trace.

Feeling just a little bad for complaining, Kai turns to go downstairs. 'Maybe I'll briefly apologize later…'

...

Meanwhile, an alarm clock's shrill sounds fill a medium sized room. Linnea turns over in her sleep and pulls her sheets over her head only to receive a light shake on her shoulder.

"Linnea?" a voice calls beside her bed.

Linnea peeks out from the sheets and blinks her eyes open upon hearing her roommate's voice. "Sera?"

"Hey, your alarm's been ringing for like twenty minutes now. You getting up soon?" the girl called Sera asks.

"Twenty minutes…?" Linnea sleepily mutters.

"Yeah, I can turn it off if you're not getting up though…"Sera offers.

"Twenty…?" Linnea repeats sleepily.

"Yeah…" Sera nods.

"Twenty…" Linnea repeats again. Upon realizing that this means she's already twenty minutes past the time she had set her alarm to, she bolts up and grabs her alarm. Squinting her eyes a little, she reads the time. Soon, the sleepy expression on Linnea's face vanishes and is quickly replaced by one of panic.

"Are you okay?" Sera asks.

Linnea drops her alarm in horror. "No…I might miss the bus downtown…"

"Uh…" Sera looks at her, concerned.

"I gotta hurry!" Quickly jumping out of bed, Linnea grabs her basket of toiletries and runs out of the room.

"Huh?" Sera stares after her.

...

Kai looks around. Outside, the sun is bright and the skies are clear. The weather, temperate for this time of year, provides a soft, comfortable, autumn breeze. Having no further classes for the day, Kai had decided to have a walk around campus like he did the week before. Unfortunately, most places on campus are not void of people in the day. However, luckily, the areas around certain dormitories tend to be generally quiet, such as the place he is at now. Beginning to space out due to the favorable environment, Kai begins to think back to the events of earlier – particularly, his earlier complaint to A2.

'I should probably apologize to her sometime…' he thinks to himself as he walks on at a casual pace.

Today's incident wasn't his first time offending her, though. There was also the Tuesday earlier in the week when, in a fit of anger, he had insulted her in a conversation with Max, Emily and Michael right below her window without knowing her circumstances or presence. He had thought of apologizing to her upon finding out she was sick but ultimately never did do so. And then, there was the way he had gotten her to agree to the contract to begin with. He _did_ force her into the contract by taking something that was precious to her. Chances are, she might really hate him…

'But why should I care if she hates me?' he asks himself. It sure wasn't his first time making people dislike him. Tyson probably hated his guts when they first met and he is willing to bet plenty of other people did too that he never saw or interacted with again. In fact, he won't even be needing A2's help after the semester is over; the girl would probably disappear from his life from everything he's seen of her. After all, to her, he is nothing more than a mere classmate that she met recently. Sure, they have a contract between them but certainly, if it were up to A2, she would gladly just take back her necklace and not have anything to do with him at all. She probably thought of him as nothing more than a nuisance from the start anyway.

Kai stops walking. 'I guess it's not like she cares.'

For an inexplicable reason, this thought brought him some disappointment.

'Maybe I shouldn't bother to apologize at all. She can't care less anyway…' he concludes, shrugging off the feeling and continuing on with his afternoon walk.

Just as he steps forward again, someone collides hard into him, sending him onto the ground. The sound of glass shattering is also soon audible. Kai grunts in pain from being knocked over but soon sits up.

Sitting a little ways in front of him is a familiar girl with near-white blonde hair and pinkish, reddish eyes. One hand covers her left eye or temple while her other hand's movement suggests she is searching for something on the ground but can't see it. A little ways away from them both is the remains of a broken portable mirror.

"Oh, no! Like this, I'll never make it to the bus stop in time!" she mutters while searching frantically.

"Linnea?" Kai is surprised to see her.

Linnea stops for a moment upon hearing his voice. She then turns towards the speaker. "Kai!"

Kai regains his usual composure and gets up off the ground. Now, no longer disoriented from the fall and feeling rather annoyed about being knocked onto the ground, he tells her, "A word of advice: if you can't even see where you're going, then don't run."

He turns from her to go but Linnea's voice stops him. "Wait!"

Kai turns back to her. "Hm?"

"I…" she begins nervously.

Kai waits for her to continue.

"I think I won't be able to find my contacts in time and I can't see without them but I need to get to the bus stop in seven minutes. Do you…do you think you…" she trails off. She then summons her courage and continues. "Do you think you can help me?"

Kai stares back at her somewhat shocked by the sudden request.

"Please?" Linnea begs. "I absolutely have to get downtown this hour!"

...

The leaves in the forest northwest of campus rustle in a relaxing rhythm. The afternoon sunlight, greatly obscured by the tall, thick trees, dance in silence through the treetops. A2 and RE:Mordred make their way slowly through the thickening woodland. Every once in a while, RE:Mordred would snap off a twig for its mistress.

"I wonder why I refused him…" A2 mutters, seemingly either to herself or to RE:Mordred.

RE:Mordred, processing the words as a question from its mistress responds, "Error: Topic unknown. Cannot process question. Please be more specific."

The girl and her creation travel in silence for a small while. A2 then mutters again. "It's not that difficult to reproduce the system on a different pair. Not for someone like me, anyway."

RE:Mordred continues snapping off twigs.

"Then again, every physical object obeys the principle of least action. An arrow shot towards a tree in gravity-free vacuum will no doubt travel toward it in a straight line because that's the shortest possible path and the path requiring the least energy for the arrow. It won't travel in a zigzag or a curve unless acted on by an external force." A2 goes on. "I guess I'm the same. Our contract only requires me to help him pass with a good grade. In that sense, I wasn't required to make sure he looks good in public; nothing prompts me to do so."

Again, RE:Mordred simply continues clearing away random twigs in their path.

A2 stops. "But then…why do I bother being so elaborate and thorough in aiding him?"

RE:Mordred stops too.

"I didn't have to write anything up for him, yet I did. He could've learned fine from a regular textbook and it would've taken no effort or time to lend him one. Yet, I chose to manually prepare instructional materials for him. I was in no way prompted to do so by our contract, so why did I choose to do that?" A2 asks herself.

"Error: Logical conclusion could not be made." RE:Mordred answers, believing this to be a question from its mistress.

A2 approaches her mechanical servant and pets it lightly. "It's alright. I, myself, have no logical answer to that anyway. But, I do wonder…"

Her musing is interrupted by the sound of a snapping twig some ways behind her. Believing that she is not alone, A2 stands up straight and still. Without turning to the source of the sound, she listens for a while in silence to the sounds around her. Whatever was behind her did not move again.

'Animals would never come so close to a human. Nothing in this forest should be territorial either. Did someone wander in?' A2 considers the possibility. 'But if they've simply wandered in, why are they so deep inside the forest? And why so close behind me? Could it be that I was being followed…?'

A2 listens to the sound of the rustling autumn leaves and the chirps of the birds for a little longer. 'Whoever it is, if their business with me is by any means agreeable, then they shouldn't have any reason to stay so quiet for so long. Their silence tells me they're pretending not to be there. They _don't_ want me to know that they're here.'

A2 stands in thought a little longer. 'If I don't want to let them follow me to the lab, I must act now…'

"Enter condition green gamma." A2 announces at a low voice. "Connection: Arthur. Movement sensor setting: Maximum. Target Detection Method: Thermal Radiation. Action: Detect target and disrupt."

"Condition green gamma now active." RE:Mordred relays. "Connection to Arthur established. Settings configured. Now searching for target."

A2 remains quiet.

In about a second more, RE:Mordred announces, "Target found. Disruption commencing."

A2 listens as the sound of wood cracking soon becomes audible. Receding footsteps are then heard. Some trees behind them then fall over. A2 turns in the direction of the fallen trees and footsteps. Seeing only the fallen tree trunks there, she glances around her surroundings cautiously.

"Disruption complete." RE:Mordred reports.

"Return to normal condition. Have Arthur locate the intruder. Also, save any and all images that were taken." A2 tells her robot.

"Normal condition now active. Command processed." RE:Mordred replies. "Relaying command to Arthur. Relay complete."

A2 glances one last time at the spot where the intruder had been. Examining the spot in detail with her eyes, she notices some traces of blood remain on a sharp branch of one of the fallen trunks. On some nearby trees are also some bloody hand prints leading away from the two.

'I was right. It _was_ a human…' A2 notes. 'What more, it looks like this intruder got hurt when I set off the disruption system and is now trying to escape…'

...

Kai walks through a crowded downtown shopping district with Linnea. Linnea had originally only requested that he take her to the bus stop. However, seeing as the girl can't see any further than about one or two feet, he ended up accompanying her all the way to the downtown area to help her buy birthday gifts for her roommate and friend whose birthdays are, respectively, today and tomorrow. Interestingly it would seem they both have a time limit for how long they can stay here; Kai must report to work at A2's underground laboratory and Linnea has to attend her roommate's birthday party later in the evening. They soon arrive at a small, but festive looking shop and enter.

"So what are we looking for in this shop?" Kai asks, glancing around.

"A birthday card." Linnea answers. "My friend has a fondness for cats so I hope we can find a cute cat themed card for her."

Kai looks around for the birthday card section. Quickly spotting it, he leads Linnea towards the rack and begins scanning through all the available cards for a suitable one. Unfortunately most of the cards there either look generic or has an undesired theme. Eventually Kai spots a puppy themed card that looks decent. Although Linnea specified a cat themed one, he picks up the card anyway in case he doesn't see one with a cat theme. He eventually finds two somewhat cat themed cards involving cartoons and shows all three to the girl.

Linnea looks through the three cards close up and examines them for a while.

"Can you see what's on them?" Kai asks, wondering if the reason she is taking so long might be because she cannot see them well without her contacts.

Linnea nods in response but glances around the rack.

Kai watches as her eyes begin to stare in one direction. A little puzzled by the action, he wonders, 'Is she trying to see something on the rack…?'

Linnea takes a few steps in the direction she is looking at and reaches for a card some ways away from them. It would seem that there was a good cat themed card after all.

Surprised by this Kai wonders, 'Was she able to see it from where she was standing?'

"I'll take this one for my friend and the cute doggy card for my roommate," she tells him.

Shrugging off the thought, Kai guides Linnea to the cash register where she proceeds to pay for the cards. Afterwards, the two exit the shop.

"So just the presents left…" Linnea mentally checks off the birthday cards from her mind. "I wonder what I should buy for them…"

Kai continues walking with her in silence, holding her hand to lead her through the crowd.

"Any ideas, Kai?" Linnea asks.

"Not really." Kai answers simply, continuing forward. It's not like he ever buys presents for people. The closest would be on his grandfather's birthday where he is essentially forced by tradition to have a slightly-fancier-than-usual dinner with his grandfather and offer him some random item his driver picks. Even on Tyson's or Max's or Ray's birthdays he's never been one to go shopping for presents.

"Hm…they're both really big fans of that anime idol from one of the recent mecha animes…" Linnea thinks out loud. "Maybe I can find a figurine or two at a toy store…? No…the anime isn't even dubbed here…"

Hearing this, Kai wonders if she watches anime with her friends.

"That's such a pretty bracelet!" Linnea suddenly exclaims, slipping from his grip and approaching a bracelet on display behind the glass window of a clothing store near them.

Kai turns to see what she is looking at. The bracelet in question was at least a few meters away from where she had been standing.

"And that dress looks really nice, too!" she adds, now looking at dress adjacent to the bracelet.

Kai raises an eyebrow. He was under the impression that the girl could not see beyond one or two feet. 'How is she able to see the stuff on display in the shop's window from here…?'

Kai watches as Linnea approaches the glass window where the dress is and begins imitating the mannequin's pose.

"Your lied about your vision earlier, didn't you?" Kai confronts her calmly, taking a few steps closer to her.

Linnea stops and turns to him.

"I lied just a little." Linnea tells him with a playful smile. "I succeeded in putting on one lens before I bumped into you but I really did loose the other lens during the fall."

"Why lie?" Kai asks.

"Because I didn't know how else to approach you." Linnea answers straightforwardly.

Kai looks at her for a moment, somewhat confused. 'Approach me…?'

"I wanted to befriend you. But, for some reason, I kept getting the feeling that you didn't want to be around me." She goes on.

For a few moments, the two of them remain quiet. Kai didn't quite know how to respond. It wasn't as though he's been avoiding her on purpose but he could see where she might be getting the idea. He _did_ leave lecture early yesterday and two days ago he _did_ tell her he was busy after class even though it was clear she wanted to hang out with him. Turning away from her, he mutters, "Sorry…"

"Tell me, when you agreed to help me today, was it because you were concerned for me?" Linnea asks.

Kai, surprised by the question, turns back to her.

A moment later, he mumbles, "…Yeah…I guess…"

Perhaps it was their location, or perhaps a part of him felt sympathy for her, but he felt as if that if he were to say "no", the girl might start crying. Although it wasn't clear to him why, he was certain he didn't want her to cry.

"Then that's good enough for me." She says with a smile. "I'm glad. This means you don't dislike me."

She then grabs hold of his hand and begins to lead him down the street. "Come, let's continue shopping for the presents. You'll help me pick, won't you?"

"Uh…sure…" Kai nods. As she pulls him along, he could not help but wonder what it was he was feeling for this girl just a moment ago.

...

With that simple nod, Kai ended up accompanying Linnea through a variety of shops in the vicinity for the next two or so hours. The girl, quite easily distracted despite having a goal in mind, brought him to a number of bookstores, clothing stores, arts and craft shops, a large toy store and even an arcade where she challenged him to a brief racing game. Ultimately failing to choose something fancy or specific within her budget, Linnea settled on two large stuffed animals: a big, fluffy, white cat and a big, fuzzy, brown dog. Kai, upon seeing the cat, was reminded of Hika, A2's cat whom he had kept for a short duration. Now, seeing as they still have some time until the bus comes, a hungry Linnea brings Kai along to a fast food restaurant where she orders a large amount of food.

Setting down the food, she takes note of the earring on Kai's left ear again. She asks, "So, I've been meaning to ask, where did you get that earring from?"

Kai, remembering it now, answers, "Someone gave it to me. Why?"

"It's just…a long time ago, I made a pair just like it." She answers, unwrapping her burger.

'So that's why she stared at it for so long yesterday…' Kai realizes.

Linnea stares at it some more as she begins consuming her meal. Upon swallowing, she asks, "May I ask the name of the person who gave the earring to you?"

Kai answers, "A2."

"Is that her real name?" Linnea asks, a little confused by the unusualness of the name.

"No, it's just a nickname." Kai tells her. He then goes on, "I don't know what her real name is, she never told me."

Linnea looks a little disappointed. "Oh…"

Kai then remembers that Emily had called her something different when they were under her window. He adds, "Her real name might be Astraea."

"Astraea?" Linnea repeats.

"Someone who knows her called her that once." He tells her.

"Oh…" Linnea appears even more disappointed.

Kai looks at her for a moment with concern.

Noticing, Linnea tells him, "I was just hoping that it might be someone I used to know but I guess it's just a coincidence…"

Kai accepts this and simply remains silent for the remainder of their time in the restaurant. Soon finished with her food, Linnea disposes of her tray and trash. Kai then gets up and begins heading to the door, careful to make sure Linnea was following behind him. Now on their way back to the bus stop, Kai checks the time on his phone.

"Crap." Kai curses. They were running a little late. The bus they need to get on is scheduled to arrive in five minutes.

"What's wrong?" Linnea asks.

"The bus is coming in five minutes. We'll have to run." He tells her.

Linnea then takes hold of his hand, causing Kai to turn to her. She then says, "It's so we don't get separated in the crowd."

Kai nods and begins dashing down the streets towards the bus stop with her. Upon seeing the stop in sight, a bus arrives and begins letting passengers off. Reading the bus number and believing that to be their bus, Kai leads Linnea to the end of the line where they eventually board.

"That was close…" Linnea says while panting after she gets on. She takes a seat near her.

Kai, also out of breath, but not by as much, takes a seat beside her as the bus begins to start. He concurs, "Yeah…"

For a few minutes they ride in silence. The bus soon stops again and makes another exchange of passengers. Looking out the window, Kai could not help but notice something seems to be amiss.

'Did we go through here earlier…?' he wonders. The stop appears foreign to him. He then shrugs it off, 'Maybe I'm just remembering wrong…'

Soon, the bus continues on its route. After a small while, it eventually arrives at yet another stop. Linnea, who had also been looking out the window, begins to look a little worried.

'This place also looks unfamiliar…' Kai notes. He then looks around the bus for a possible mapping of the bus route.

Linnea gently pulls on Kai's sleeve. "Hey…are we on the right bus?"

Kai does not answer. However, he _was_ certain that the bus number was correct when they got on.

Finding no map, he gets up and walks to the front of the bus where the driver is and asks, "Hey, does this bus stop near the university?"

"This bus is headed downtown." The uniformed man replies. "If you want to go to the university, you'll need to take the uptown bus."

'So we've gone further downtown…' Kai notes. He then asks, "How do I get to the bus uptown?"

The driver thinks for a moment before responding, "For most locations you just find the bus stop on the other side of the road. To take the bus going in the other direction, you'll have to wait about an hour though. The bus for this hour already left."

Upon hearing that, Linnea looks worried. "I'll be late for the party…"

"Is there a faster alternative?" Kai asks.

"Yeah, on the next stop, you can get off and walk five blocks to transfer to a public bus. That one's not run by the university so you'll be paying out of your own pocket." He then checks the time. "That bus should arrive in about every ten minutes so you won't have to worry about missing it."

Kai then asks, "And what bus number is it?"

The driver struggles to recall the bus number. Giving up, he pulls out a map from beside him and gives it to Kai. "Here. It's the nearest stop to where you will get off. That bus is the only one that stops there so you can't mess up."

"Thanks." Kai tells the driver as the bus stops for the third time.

"You're welcome." The driver responds.

He and Linnea then get off the bus.

'Five blocks from here and the nearest bus stop…' Kai begins scanning the map. He quickly locates the university's stop and the stop where the shopping district was and counts three stops down from the latter. Identifying a stop five blocks east from where they are as the one they need to get to, he looks up to see where the sun is. Now that it is a good few hours past noon, the sun should no doubt be slightly south of west. After locating the sun's direction from them, he quickly finds the street most likely to be in the east direction and begins to lead Linnea in its direction.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Linnea asks, somewhat scared of their surroundings.

Kai doesn't blame her. The entire area looks run-down. The buildings look old and graffiti is everywhere. The streets have few people and the sound of barking dogs some ways down the street just adds a spook to the already unpleasant atmosphere. Hoping to calm her down, Kai answers, "Yeah, we should be going in the right direction."

Linnea nods.

After passing the first block, the place grows even more eerie. Now the only ones in sight, Kai also begins to hear an extra set of footsteps behind them. He begins to lead Linnea down the street at a slightly faster pace only to hear the third set of footsteps speed up as well.

"Don't look back, just keep walking." He mutters to Linnea.

She nods, clearly frightened.

Upon coming closer the intersection between the third and fourth block, two men appear before them, blocking their path. One of them, bald with a facial tattoo holds a knife in his hands while the other, slightly chubby with several visible piercings is armed with a metal rod. Kai takes a quick glance behind him to see yet another thug, also armed with a knife. The last one had probably been the one following them. Glancing around and seeing no fourth person, he quickly turns to his right and dashes down the perpendicular street with Linnea.

"Don't stop running." He tells her as the thugs begin to follow the two of them.

"'Kay." Linnea answers him, trying her best to keep up with his superior speed.

Block after block they pass, each block appearing more likely abandoned and empty than the last.

Kai glances back briefly. Behind him, the three thugs are still following at a steady speed closely matching his own. Unable to go any faster and growing tired, he refocuses back to what's in front of him. Without realizing it, he had led the two of them straight towards what looks like the entrance to an abandoned junkyard. Not having much of a choice, Kai enters it with Linnea.

Fortunately, this junkyard is fairly large. Numerous mountains of scrap line the place providing some decent places to hide. Kai pulls Linnea behind one of the piles as swiftly and as quietly as he can. He then tells her, "Calm down. Don't make a sound."

Linnea nods. From her expression, Kai can tell she is very, very scared.

The two of them then wait in silence as the thugs who had been chasing them enter the junkyard. It was clear they were here after all. As quietly as he can, Kai pulls out his cell phone to call the police. However, much to his dismay, his phone's signal bar is empty.

'Dammit. Of all the times for there to be no signal…' He curses.

Linnea, understanding what he is trying to do reaches into her bag to check her phone too. Unfortunately, her phone did not have any signal from here either.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are~!" One of the thugs sings. "We know you're both here."

'If only we could call for help…' Kai tries to call the police anyway. 'It's not working…'

He then hears a pair of footsteps coming closer to him. In his mind, he prays that for the two of them not to be found.

Unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered. "Found ya."

Kai and Linnea turn to find themselves face to face with the thug who had been tailing them. In his hand is a sharp blade pointed at Linnea's neck. The girl, scared for her life screams in fright.

"Hey, bro, good job." The other two criminals join him in surrounding them.

'Is this it? Am I going to die right here and now?' Kai analyzes his situation, 'Even if all these guys want is just money, there's no way we'd be let out alive…not after we've seen their faces.'

Kai then attempts to think of a way out. 'There's three of them and two of us. The odds are against us but maybe there's a way out. If only I could get away from them for just a little while and call for help…'

It then hits him. 'Call for help…wait a minute…'

There just might be a way out of this yet. There is one more item on him, one more communication device, one that's not obvious. There is no guarantee that it will work from here, but to the very least, due to its nature, attempting to use it should at least stun the thugs for a little while by making them think he's crazy. Even if it won't work, he might be able to make a slight opening that might just let them get away…

...

A2 sits in a laidback manner before the huge monitor in her lab, facing away from it and sipping a glass of juice with fruits decorating the glass at the side. Her head is tilted back and her eyes stare off into space. A white, protection suit lies on the floor beside her seat. Deeper inside the lab, several machines are operating, each doing their own job and going about the lab as necessary to complete their programmed task.

"It can't be the CIA or the FBI. Neither of them would have any business here; the place is registered as a private park for personal leisure." A2 thinks out loud. "And there's no way to trace the resources coming here anyway…"

She then turns over and curls up in her seat. "And from the images it didn't look like some random crook either…more like a well dressed and fit woman…too bad the cameras didn't get a clear shot of her…"

A2 stays this way for a little while. "I did tell that guy not to tell anyone about this place. Although…even if he did tell some dimwitted friend of his, this still doesn't add up. An amateur would never have made it that far tailing me without me noticing sooner…"

Rolling over, A2 hands the near empty glass back to her robotic servant. "Hm…speaking of that guy, he's late again…"

She sits up. "RE:Mordred, please be so kind as to go heat up a box of roast turkey for me."

"Command processed." Her robotic companion replies.

"Oh and, please add a bowl of warm mushroom soup to that." A2 adds. "For dessert, I'd like to have-"

"A2!" a familiar voice transmitted by her earring interrupts her. It calls again. "A2! Are you there? Answer me, hurry!"

Displeased by the sudden interruption, A2 gestures for RE:Mordred to pause the order and activates her earring with a slight turn of the back part. She then replies, "What is it? It's not exam day yet. And aren't you suppose to be here by now? Anyway, for your information, I'm busy ordering dessert."

"Forget dessert! A2, I need your help right now." Kai tells her in relief while ducking to dodge a knife. He then takes Linnea and quickly runs through a gap between the three thugs, careful to avoid their attacks.

"Hey, come back here punk!" the chubby one yells after them as they run. His two knife-wielding accomplices run after them.

"You need my help to do what?" A2 asks as she writes the remainder of her order for RE:Mordred on a piece of paper. RE:Mordred complies and disappears off to prepare the food.

"I'm being chased by a few thugs in some deserted junkyard." Kai tells her, dodging a blow from the chubby guy and making a turn around another pile of metal scrap with Linnea. "Get the police for me. I'm not sure of the address but this place shouldn't be too far from two bus stops that are five blocks apart and about three stops distance from the downtown commercial district."

"And should I tell them to go salvage your corpse when they get there?" A2 asks while opening up a city map on her monitor and scanning through it. "You know they won't make it in time if you're already engaging the thugs right now, right? At least not with the description of your location you just gave me…"

"Isn't there anything you can do to help me?" Kai asks her as he runs with Linnea deeper into the junkyard away from the thugs.

"There is if you can stay alive for about three to five minutes more." A2 tells him as she gets off her seat. She then walks quickly towards the back of the lab.

Kai, now at a dead end, turns to face the thugs who have begun to catch up. He replies to A2, "Fine. Three to five minutes."

"Good. Expect help at the end of that time frame." She tells him before cutting off her transmission.

"Nowhere to run now, punk." One of the thugs remarks with a smirk.

"Ha, ya should've handed over all ye cash and valuables from da start!" the one beside him says.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Kai counters confidently. Now that he has made contact with A2, he is sure she must have a way of helping him. She said to expect help in three to five minutes after all. As much as he might have offended her multiple times, as much as she might not like socializing, and as much as she might be reluctant to help him, this shows him she doesn't hate him. For this, he felt glad.

"I'm scared…" Linnea whimpers, holding tightly onto the two stuffed animals in her arms.

"Don't be." Kai tells her, eyeing their new environment. There were a good few piles of scrap nearby.

"So, punk, why shouldn't we be sure?" the chubby one laughs. "because it looks to me like you're gonna be skinned alive right about now."

"I don't think so!" Kai takes out his Dranzer and attaches it to his launcher. Quickly inserting the ripcord, he aims for the pile of metal behind one of the thugs and launches, causing some of the scraps to fall and hit one of them. He then grabs Linnea and pulls her behind another pile of metal nearby.

"Why you little…" The other two thugs begin chasing after him, leaving their injured companion behind.

"Dranzer!" Kai calls to his beyblade to have it attack another two piles of scrap to block off the two pursuers. Unfortunately, this time, the two thugs managed to dodge the falling metal.

'Damn.' Kai curses the miss while running towards the exit with Linnea. However, thanks to the blockage, the thugs are now much further behind them. Now close to the exit, Kai runs as quickly as he can to try to make it out.

'I can do this. I'll make it…' Kai tells himself in his mind.

Just as he is about to run out, a loud gunshot is heard and a bullet pierces the ground before him forcing him to stop where he is. Beside him, Linnea begins to cry.

"You two aren't going anywhere." A new voice sounds as someone new steps out from behind one of the many scrap piles near them.

Kai turns to see a guy with shoulder length hair holding a pistol.

"Now then, recall that toy of yours." He tells him.

Kai glances behind him. The two who had dodged the fall were catching up too. "Boss!"

'We'll get surrounded again…' Kai notes as the two grinning thugs begin to position themselves around him and Linnea. He then turns back to the guy with the pistol. 'And if I don't comply he'll shoot before I get the chance to hit him. I might be able to dodge his bullets but Linnea's a sitting duck…'

Knowing he has no choice, he does as he is told and recalls Dranzer to his hand. The longer he can prolong their lives, the better their chance of getting out of this alive, after all. 'Maybe I can stall for some time by talking to the guy. A2 did say I can expect help in three to five minutes. I just have to hold him off a little longer…'

"Why are you so bent on chasing after us?" Kai asks. Beside him, Linnea continues to cry.

"Now that's a dumb question." The guy with the pistol responds. "Anyone who lives in this neighborhood can tell you two got money. Just look at the stuff you're wearing. That girl's hand bag for example can easily sell for a couple hundred."

"Heh, Boss, we told this guy already that we just want his money but he tried to resist!" the chubby one says. "He even hurt Bobby back there!"

"I already know he did." Their boss answers him. He then turns back to Kai. "Now then, are you going to cooperate or are we gonna have some fun with you?"

"Not like we can trust you to let us out alive if we did cooperate. You people aren't even honest enough to go make your own money." Kai returns, hoping to prolong the conversation. If he manages to start a philosophical discussion, then it would take no effort to hold out until A2's help arrives.

"You're right, we're not so honest." Their boss answers. "But so what?"

Kai watches as the guy points his pistol in his direction. "We need a way to survive and this gets us what we need and more. Anyway, enough with the stalling, you're just trying to prolong the inevitable. Say your prayers."

Before Kai gets the chance to brace for the blow, a thunderous noise fills the air. The immense sound waves have effectively froze everyone to their spot in fear. Kai, quickly recovering from the uncomfortable pain in his eardrums, turns to the source of the sound to find a gigantic plated structure in the general shape of a human being standing some ways away them with an oversized white blade in hand. The overall appearance of the thing somewhat resembled the popular machines featured in mecha anime from his home country. Kai watches as the ten meter tall plated titan then proceeds to approach them in steady steps.

"W…What…What the hell is that thing!?" the chubby thug squeaks.

Kai notices the guy's pants are wet. 'He must've pissed himself out of fear…'

A familiar voice then sounds from the machine. "This is 2nd Lt. Ingrid Burton. Target has been found. Now proceeding to eliminate target."

Kai watches as the machine raises its blade and then points it at the guy holding the pistol.

"A2…?" Kai recognizes the voice. He stares dumbfounded at her machine now. She had told him to expect help from her in three to five minutes but never did he imagine she'd come piloting a plated giant mecha while pretending to be an officer of some unnamed army.

"Boss…?" the other guy watches in shock.

"Wait, is this the military? What did I do wrong? I think you got the wrong guy, honest…I'm just a civillian!" the thug with the pistol tries to wiggle his way out.

"That's unfortunate since you look exactly like who I've been ordered to kill. Too bad giving you the chance to plead wasn't included in my orders. I suggest you say your prayers." A2 tells him coldly.

The giant robot lifts up the blade as if to strike. Desperate for his life, the guy fires his pistol randomly at the gigantic structure but fails to even scratch it as his bullets simply ricocheted to the ground upon hitting the machine. Realizing the futility of his attempts, the thug turns and runs as fast as he can.

"Oh and I must add, my orders _do_ include the elimination of anyone who has come into contact with the target." A2 adds, turning to the other two thugs. "I guess that means the four of you."

Upon hearing this, the other two thugs begin running as well. Now practically alone, A2 turns to Kai and the sobbing girl beside him. Bending down with the robot, she opens up her cockpit. Removing the headpiece attached to the controls from her hair, she stands up to greet them.

"I didn't know you have a penchant for going on dates in deserted junkyards like this." She says. "I guess if things go right, it beats having to pay at a hotel…"

Kai blushes deeply. "That's…no…we're not…"

"I was teasing." A2 turns from him. She then returns to the cockpit and puts the headpiece back on. "Get in. It'll be a bit tight, but I'm sure the LPF-01 Nymph can hold three passengers if none of them are sumo wrestlers. You and your girlfriend need a ride back, right?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Kai tells her, somewhat irritated while turning to Linnea to help her up off the ground. He asks her, "Are you okay?"

Linnea who had been recovering, wipes her tears with one hand and nods.

"It's okay now, A2's a friend." He tells her.

"A2…?" Linnea repeats. She then turns to the other girl and as she does, their eyes meet briefly.

A2 lowers the machine's hand and Kai guides Linnea to it. A2 then raises them both up to level with her cockpit and helps them both get on board. In the process, she recognizes and takes note of Linnea's necklace but stays silent.

Sitting back down, A2 then tells them both, "Hang on tight to the back of my seat and don't touch anything else."

"Okay…" Linnea replies as she hangs on. She then notices the earring on A2's right ear and stares at it briefly.

Kai hangs on as well. Closing the cockpit, A2 starts up the propulsion system and they begin to ascend upwards, accelerating high above the city.

"By the way, freshman," A2 says to Kai as she begins heading for the her forest near the university. "Just so you know, I didn't save you from retiring to your grave early for free. You're going to owe me for this, got that?"

Kai looks at her, with some dread. For some reason, this didn't sound like something good to him at all…


	10. Saturday With A2

### Saturday With A2

A2 sits upright, with her legs folded, arms crossed and nose held high, like an aristocrat, in the largest sofa in her suite's living room before Kai, who is standing and towering over her a small distance away.

"So?" Kai begins their conversation.

The day before, after she had brought him and Linnea back safely and saw Linnea off at the edge of her forest, A2 had told him to come to her suite at nine in the morning and stressed that he should not arrive late. Kai had asked if this is for a favor but as usual, the uncommunicative A2 chose to withhold information. Likewise, she answered none of the questions that either him or Linnea asked of her machine, the LPF-01 Nymph. Throughout the entire way back, Kai could not help but notice Linnea's interest in A2, despite the more slender girl's clear apathy towards her. Kai continues to stand still before the light haired girl.

"What do you want?" Kai asks, wanting to get this over with already. He had originally intended to spend the day finishing the math packet A2 had given him and various assignments from his other classes since he doesn't get to work on them much during the weekdays.

There is a pause as A2 eyes him up and down for a moment. She then says, "You should choose more subservient words, servant."

Kai stares at her, partly annoyed and partly in disbelief at what she had just called him.

"I've taken some time to think what would be appropriate…" A2 goes on.

Kai watches as she gets up and strolls casually to the living room window.

She continues, "Originally, for saving you, I was going to have you become my eternal servant…"

Kai retorts in an audible mutter, "Maybe in your wildest dreams…"

A2 turns to him. "…but I've decided instead to only have you serve me for a temporary period."

Kai glares at her, irritated by both her demand and the fact that she ignored him.

A2 adds, "The thought of having you by my side at my deathbed sends shivers down my spine, after all."

Continuing to glare at her, Kai comments, "That's my line."

Hearing that, A2's bored features begin to display the same grumpy look as that of the one on Kai's face as she stares back at him. She asks in a snobbish voice, "Tell me, how much is your life worth to you?"

Kai answers her, "It's obvious that my life's important to me…"

"I'm glad to hear that, you ungrateful freshman." A2 then bends down for the TV remote on the coffee table before the sofa she was sitting on. She turns the TV on with it and a reporter comes on screen. Behind her is a colorful image of a familiar, mechanical silhouette in the sunset.

"…three sources spotted an unidentified machine in the shape of a humanoid yesterday around evening. Sixty two year old Richard Finkelstein, who was stargazing around six o'clock in search of the evening star found instead, what he called, "a titan in the dusk sky". Around the same time, Dr. Ralf Ashwood, a professor of astronomy at one of the local universities, and his students reported having observed a similar "titan" during a club exercise. They are not alone; two airline pilots claimed a frightful experience when this machine crossed the trajectory of the civilian jetliner they were flying. Luckily the machine did not crash into them…"

A2 interrupts Kai's concentration on the reporter. "This is all over the news now. It's being reported worldwide on every news media network in the world. Some idiots are claiming it's an invasion by space aliens while others believe it's some secret weapon like in those mecha animes from Japan."

Kai continues to listen to the report. Some expert being consulted by one of the reporters on the news is now speculating that the technology powering the machine involved is about at least fifty years ahead of what is currently considered state of the art.

"So what about it?" Kai asks nonchalantly. The world's impressed with A2's creation; she should be happy.

"The Nymph was sighted by three, separate sources simultaneously. There's even a photograph of it. That's more than enough to attest its existence to the world. Everyone wants to find out more about the mysterious titan in the dusk sky now." A2 states. "And, as a result, I'll be in a load of trouble."

Kai watches as she turns the news off. "Why?"

"Because I'm not permitted to publish or make known any part of my research without authorization." A2 tells him. "Once my sister finds out about this, I'll be receiving a sure and long lecture along with a potential penalty."

Kai watches as she places the remote back where it belongs. Although he had not really had the time to think too much about it the last few days, he guesses that the lab must exist for some profit related reason and that the research there must be a form of trade secret. From the appearance of her sister and the monetary funding required to maintain the lab, he wouldn't be surprised if A2's family ran a huge business. Even the interior of the lab and the technology guarding its existence seems to be too elaborate for one spoiled daughter's enjoyment. He asks coolly, "Isn't that your problem?"

A2 turns back to him.

"My family will no doubt think highly of the idea of removing me from the university along with the equipment in the lab here to avoid any further risks." A2 then adds, "You should recall the second condition of our contract."

Upon hearing that, Kai begins to feel a little uneasy. He turns from her, 'So it'll be my problem as well…'

"Luckily for you, I don't have any intention of leaving this university just yet." A2 says, having noticed his change of facial expression. She assures him, "I'll try to convince them to relax and to let me stay. While I'll likely succeed, do know that this hassle that is now upon me is the result of having to save you."

Kai turns back to her.

She finishes, "So if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you showed some gratitude."

Kai feels a little guilty for his earlier attitude now. He does indeed owe this girl his life, after all. Since the two of them never got along too well, he even half expected her to ignore his request for help when he contacted her during his ordeal.

'It _is_ true she could have left me to die…' Kai admits in his mind. No one could have proved she had what it took to save him or that she knew of his situation; her lab is apparently a secret from the world and the modifications on the pair of earrings that they share is no doubt known only to the two of them.

This thought, however, leads him to realize something else – the fact that there was no way A2 didn't know the consequences of saving him. She _is_ way too intelligent _not_ to, after all. It wasn't as though it was impossible for him to have survived if she left him to wait for the police, just less likely. Even in the case that the police asks how he could contact her despite the lack of a phone signal in the area and the secret to the pair of earrings they wear were exposed, she could just find another way to help him cheat on the exam. Why did she _rush_ to his rescue? Did she care about him? Or was it simply her conscience? Could it be that she actually has a kind heart?

Deciding he might as well satisfy his curiosity, he breaks the silence between them and asks, "Why did you use the Nymph to save me?"

A2 looks at him, confused by his question. "Hm?"

"I'm sure you knew it'd be trouble for you." He continues, "You could have either left me to die or left it to the police. Why didn't you?"

A2 looks at him for a moment, surprised by his question. She then turns away, her features displaying some hint of frustration. A while passes and she remains silent.

"Well?" Kai pushes the question on.

A2 ignores him, continuing to keep her gaze away.

Just as Kai was about to ask again, she finally answers, "Noblesse Oblige."

An awkward pause follows as Kai raises an eyebrow and stares at her, dumbfounded by her reply. "…What."

Now, Kai knew what the phrase meant despite his lack of background in the French language but of all the replies he had expected, this was most certainly not one of them.

"It was within my power to save you." A2 explains to him in a conceited tone. She adds, "Even if you are an inferior creature compared to myself, the fact that I had the means to help you obligated me to do so."

Upon hearing that explanation, Kai thinks to himself, 'What kind of retarded logic is this…?'

There is another moment of silence as A2 turns back to him and takes note of his speechless and somewhat offended state.

Put off by the condescending and surprisingly silly reasoning, Kai turns from her. "Forget it, I'm leaving."

As he is about to head for the door, he finds RE:Mordred before him, staring at him with its blank, robotic expression. Kai stares back, irritated by its presence in his path. Its mistress then calls out to him, "Wait."

He turns back to her as she proceeds to approach him calmly, stopping a mere few inches before him. He notices that her usual, wintry expression has returned and although faint compared to the last time, he is again able to pick up her scent. Finding it pleasant as before, he quickly forgets his impatience and desire to leave.

"Regardless of your emotions over the matter, the truth is that you owe me for saving your life." She says.

She then takes another small step towards him. Kai can smell her fragrance growing stronger as she does. While a part of his mind wonders if this is her natural scent, she places one hand gently on his chest and comes yet closer until their bodies touch. Feeling her breasts slightly pressed against him through their clothing, Kai feels his heartbeat speed up. She looks into his eyes and whispers in a rather alluring voice, "So do pay your dues sometime."

Before Kai could process her words just now, she abruptly steps back from him with a smug and devious look on her face.

Kai, now recovering, eyes A2 suspiciously, not sure how to interpret or react to her strange actions just now.

A2 then asks, "Tell me, how important is the sport of beyblading to you?"

Kai is confused by the sudden change of topic. "It's what I worked hardest at my entire life. Why?"

A2 smiles devilishly now. She then remarks, "Good."

Heading to the door, she puts on her sandals and turns back to him.

"I'll be at the campus bus stop. If you come across a reason to find me, I'll be waiting there." She says, pulling the door open. She then adds, "Also, RE:Mordred will lock the door when you leave, so don't worry about it."

With that, she steps out of the suite and lets the door close behind her. Kai stares after the door for a moment, still confused by her actions and wondering why she had suddenly brought up beyblading. He was pretty sure that she didn't blade herself; it'd be hard to imagine that she did when she can't even take the trash out on her own. He then realizes something else that's strange.

'Why did she tell me she'd be waiting at the bus stop?' Kai goes over her words again. The university's bus service had buses that came about every hour while the public buses arrived at ten minute intervals; A2 would never need to wait over an hour. Did she expect him to look for her within a maximum timeframe of an hour?

'But why would I have a reason to go find her?' Kai wonders. He then recalls A2's question regarding beyblading and her proximity to him right before she said everything. The possibility that this might somehow involve his beyblade pops into his mind and he reaches into the inner sleeve of his trench coat where Dranzer is usually kept.

RE:Mordred watches him with a blank expression as he comes to the realization that his precious blue blade is not there. As he begins searching his pockets just to make sure he had not misplaced it, the clock's second hand reaches the zero mark on the wall and a computerized voice announces, "Trigger Command: ID RT005. Now activating."

Kai stops and turns to the robot near him.

It goes on, "Relaying recorded message."

A familiar voice speaking in a pompous tone is played. "Dear Intellectually Inferior Freshman,"

An annoyed grumble sounds in Kai's throat upon hearing the unpleasant greeting.

"If you are listening to this, you must still be standing near RE:Mordred like the idiot that you are, possibly trying to find your beyblade. Well, I had expected you to be less than honorable enough to repay me for saving your life. Thus, I have taken hold of your beyblade as reassurance. Rest assured, it will be returned to you once I feel your debt to me has been repaid. I believe I will have left you with my location by the time you receive this message, so…"

Kai does not bother to listen to the rest as he storms out of A2's suite, more annoyed than ever in his life. Behind him, RE:Mordred stops playing the message and begins to close the door after him. As it does, it says in its usual mechanical voice, "Have a nice trip, Mr. Kai Hiwatari. Be sure to trip over something on your way."

Hearing this, Kai stops in his tracks momentarily, a vein threatening to pop. He glares back at the door of A2's suite for a moment, wondering if A2 programmed her robot to say this to every guest or if it's just him. Deciding it'd be pointless of him to think about this right now, he resumes his way to the university's bus terminal.

...

Elsewhere, in an abandoned building filled with graffiti somewhere in a rather rundown area in the city, two men, one bald with facial tattoos and the other one chubby with piercings, sit lounging in different parts of the room. One of them is busy pigging out on some fast food while the other one stares out of a broken glass window with a burnt out cigarette in his mouth. Suddenly, without warning, the door of the place opens, alarming the two of them and a young man with shoulder length hair in punk styled clothing walks in.

"Yo." He greets the two in the room.

There is an air of uncomfortable silence in the room as the other two simply stare at him.

"Uh…hi boss…" the chubby guy says meekly.

The boss of the trio turns to his chubby underling. "How's Bobby doing?"

"Oh…uh…he's still in the emergency room." He replies.

"I see." Their boss acknowledges the piece of information. He then curses the one who caused Bobby's condition. "Dam that kid to hell."

The other two are silent.

Their boss notices this and eyes them both. "You two are unusually silent today. What's wrong?"

The guy by the window turns away and the chubby one becomes anxious from that. He answers shyly, "Well…uhm…that's because of yesterday…"

"What 'bout it?" the boss asks him.

"Are you…really being targeted by the military?" the chubby guy asks.

"I doubt it." He replies. "I mean come on, it's not like we do anything that gets us national attention. Besides if the military were seriously after me, then why didn't that thing chase me? I got away safe and clean, didn't I?"

There is silence again as the other two are still not comfortable being around him.

"What?" their leader looks at them both who, in turn look away. "You two don't believe me?"

The chubby one looks up at him, somewhat frightened. "Well…it's just…if you didn't do anything, the military wouldn't come after you yesterday at all to begin with…"

"Bigs, do you even watch movies" His boss argues. "Since when does the military use those things like that _thing_? We can't be sure they're from the army when there were no uniforms or nothin' from them."

"Then how d'ya explain that _thing_ itself?" the one by the window asks. "We've never even seen a machine like that except on cartoons. Even if it's not with the army, it's from somewhere big and with money. If ya did nothin' to piss'em off, then tell me why the hell they were after ya."

The man with shoulder length hair eyes them both angrily. His hand moves as though to reach for his pistol but relaxes. He turns from them and begins to make his way to the door. Before leaving, he says to them. "Fine. Don't believe me then. But if that's the case, go find yourself someone else to be your boss. I'm outta here."

With that, the other two watch him leave. Moments later, the sound of him spitting on their door before exiting the building is audible.

...

Back at the university, Kai stomps through a rather clustered plaza filled with students waiting for the bus to do their weekend shopping or to otherwise just hang out with some friends. At this point he is annoyed beyond reprieve with everything that has happened today so far. Never mind the fact that A2 had stolen Dranzer from him in the ridiculous and embarrassing manner that she did and the fact that even her robot was teasing him on his way out of her suite, but right now even finding her is an irritating experience for him.

'Where the hell is she…?' he curses while scanning the area as efficiently as he can. He had no idea which bus A2 is waiting for and thus, has no choice but to check every section of the area.

As he checks through the crowd around the third bus, a voice speaks to him from close behind him, "You're here."

Kai wheels around to find himself face to face with the light, strawberry-blond haired girl he is looking for. Getting straight to the point, he demands, "Give Dranzer back right now."

"'Dranzer'?" A2 repeats the name. She takes out his beyblade. "This?"

Kai reaches out to grab it from her but she evades him with a simple sidestep and twirls a good few meters away from him where a few moving passersby bars him from reaching her quickly. He then watches as she drops his precious blade in the space between her cleavage and her dress.

"You want it back, right?" she asks playfully.

Kai glares daggers at her, visibly vexed by her actions.

She then puts on an innocent smile and says, "Come and get it!"

This makes Kai really hate when she smiles now as each time so far, something displeasing for him generally followed. He continues to glare at her as dozens of colorful curse words form in his throat and threaten to come out of his mouth. In a place like this, there is nothing he can do to get Dranzer back from her. If he made a move to try to take it from her, it'd look like he's sexually harassing her which would not only leave a bad impression on anyone around who might recognize him from any of the classes he is taking, but would also leave A2 with an even better way to control him since she could charge him in court for the action easily with the amount of witnesses she'd have if she screamed.

Kai sighs, annoyed still, but defeated. Deciding that this doesn't make a very big difference to him in practicality anyway since he already owes her an unlimited supply of favors this semester, he approaches her slowly and then says, "Fine. You win. I'll play servant for a little while, but only until I find a way to get Dranzer back, got that?"

The smile on A2's face now returns to its true, devilish nature.

"Good," she then turns from him to a nearby line of people. "Follow me."

...

They soon end up on one of the buses that were boarding. A2, being of the slender build that she is, easily slips past other passengers for a seat but Kai on the other hand ends up standing diagonally before her. The bus soon pulls out of the terminal and begins driving on its route.

Kai, having no clue where they are headed, decides to ask, "Where are we going?"

"To an Asian supermarket." A2 replies, staring out the window.

"Grocery shopping?" Kai deduces.

A2 nods, "Yes, we're going to buy some sushi ingredients."

"Sushi?" Kai looks at her kind of surprised. He was under the impression she didn't eat anything but junk food, instant food and butter.

"Yes, making me sushi for lunch happens to be your first task as my servant." She says mundanely as she leans on the glass of the bus window, watching a nearby puppy on the sidewalk sniff around the base of a tree.

Kai looks at her for a moment, wondering why she wants him to make sushi of all things as his first task. Is it because it's the most well known family of dishes to foreigners? From her appearance, A2 does look like she is of European descent. Believing this to be some form of stereotyping, he says to her, "If you want sushi, I can just take you out for lunch."

A2 instantly protests in a spoiled and assertive manner, "I don't want packaged or restaurant-made sushi."

Annoyed by this, Kai asks, "Why not?"

"It feels empty." she replies.

'Empty…?' Kai repeats in his mind. He wonders what she meant by that but shrugs it off. Sighing, he asks, "Well, what kind of sushi do you want?"

"細巻と握り寿司。 _(thin rolls and nigiri.)_ " A2 answers simply.

Kai notes her surprisingly fluent speech but ascertains, "Just those two?"

A2 nods.

Kai then asks, "And what toppings and fillings?"

"鮭と鮪でいい。 _(Salmon and tuna are fine.)_ " she replies.

Kai blinks at her for a moment. Both ingredients she listed were fish. Now, it is true that he only has a vague idea how sushi is made, but the real problem with this is that he has no experience in selecting for fresh fish and it's common knowledge that bad quality fish in sushi can lead to some nasty infections. Since he needs her in reasonably good health to tutor him, he points out to her, "You know, I'm not trained to tell fish quality…"

She turns to him, "I never said you need to know how to tell fish quality."

Kai looks at her confused.

"I already have the salmon and tuna shipped by air. It's defrosting in my refrigerator right now." She tells him, returning her attention to what's outside the bus window. "The only thing we're buying is the rice, seaweed, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger and wasabi."

Kai nods in acknowledgement, a little surprised that she even kept something in her fridge that wasn't junk or instant. He wonders if she planned this ahead of time but decides not to bother asking.

The remainder of their ride goes by quickly and without much conversation. Kai can't help but notice A2 seems to greatly enjoy the views of the city. He is a little surprised to see that side of her but keeps quiet. Additionally, he also takes note of her choice of clothing. Although no exception to her tradition of wearing white every single day, today, she is wearing a much more elaborately designed halter top dress. Unlike her other, more plain and loose fitting dresses, this one wraps nicely around her figure from the waist and up and the skirt of the dress flares out in an elegant fashion. He wonders if she had purposely dressed for the occasion but chooses not to bring this up either.

Soon enough, the bus arrives at their intended stop and they get off. Kai immediately notices the liveliness of the neighborhood as he follows A2 down the boulevard. Glancing around at the various shops nearby, he also notices the place seems to be predominantly Chinese with the occasional Japanese or Korean shop. They soon pass by a small café and A2 buys herself a large sized cup of iced bubble tea, which she makes him hold for her, before continuing on. Shortly after, they stop before the entrance of a large supermarket.

"This is the place." She states as she leads him inside.

Upon entering, Kai recalls A2's rather weak physique and wonders if he should grab a shopping cart for them but decides against it when he sees her walk straight towards the snack aisles. Following her there silently, he watches with some astonishment as she begins to pick through the snacks on the shelf like a small child. She soon begins to practically hand him the store's entire supply of a particular brand of Japanese potato chips one by one, prompting him to stop her.

"A2…" he addresses her, rejecting the nth bag she's handing him.

She eyes him up and down for a moment and asks, "Need help?"

"…What do _you_ think?" he glares back at her.

She then turns to an approaching store clerk and addresses him, "You there."

The passing clerk turns to her and responds, "How can I help you, M'am?"

"Go get us a cart or basket." She commands.

In response to the commanding tone and the obvious fact that she's standing there neither doing anything nor holding anything, the clerk looks at her oddly for a moment but complies, "Uh…okay, I'll be right back with that."

Kai watches as the guy goes off to bring her what she had demanded and recalls their initial interactions. 'I guess she's this bossy no matter who it is.'

The guy soon comes back with a cart and A2 dumps all fifteen bags of chips into it before moving on. She also picks out some sweets and again practically buys out the entire supply of that kind on the shelf. Now beginning to have some concerns for how they will bring that back, Kai addresses her again.

"A2," he calls to her as she begins picking out some chocolate.

She does not respond, but Kai expected this.

He suggests, "Instead of buying so many in one go, why don't you come back and buy more another day?"

"No way." She protests. "It's been years since I had a chance to shop for things like this."

Kai raises an eyebrow. The store is only a short bus ride away from campus. Since she's been here for a few years already, shouldn't she have had plenty of chances to shop?

Casually, he asks, "Why so?"

A2, now done with packing their cart with chocolates, leads them to the next aisle. "I simply didn't know about this place until recently."

She continues while picking out a bottle of soy sauce, "It's not like I spend my time looking around for new stores when there's no need for a particular item anyway. Besides, since I can't carry much on my own, I've always either had someone else shop in my stead or had Mordred do it."

Kai continues to follow her as she dumps more sushi ingredients into the cart. He is thankful when she skips pass the soft drinks aisle as those would be fairly heavy to bring back. Soon finished collecting the necessary ingredients after going through a few more aisles, they begin to line up to check out the items in their cart at the cashiers. As they get on the line, an alarm rings some distance away at the door. Turning in the direction from which the sound originates, they see a woman being approached by some store employees while entering. Near them, a man dressed in a suit grumbles and complains about the seemingly malfunctioning alarm.

"Now that's one stupid thief." A2 comments as she follows the woman who just entered with her eyes.

Kai turns to her, surprised to hear her call the woman a thief since she just came in. The woman, who heard the last word of the sentence, eyes her nervously as she continues to head down towards the aisles.

Sensing his curiosity, A2 explains for her companion, "That woman is carrying either a magnetic object or some other form of conductive item, such as a loop of wire. Her reason for bringing such an object with her is to set off the alarms at the door upon entrance, thereby causing the employees to believe that the alarms are malfunctioning. She likely intends to walk out with expensive, but small items in her purse while possibly paying for only a much cheaper item at the cashier to earn trust."

A2 and Kai move up in the line as someone finishes checking out in front of them. Having heard her explanation up until now, the suited man keeps his eyes on them, waiting for A2 to continue. The woman returns to the front of the store with a small bag of candy and goes up to a cashier who handles only quick check outs of less than ten items. As she finishes and proceeds towards the door to leave, the alarms are set off again. The man in the suit near them, possibly a store manager, struggles with the decision to listen further or to believe and act on what he has already heard.

"Of course, one can argue that she brought in the magnetic object from a different store." A2 goes on. "However, since today's Saturday, the typical electronics store doesn't open until about an hour or so from now so the woman's seemingly perfect plan is hilariously flawed by her poor choice of timing. Not that it'd matter in a store run by mindless imbeciles, though…"

Now, the man near them storms away to talk to the employees near the door. A2 watches him go with her usual, bored expression.

Kai, feeling a little bad for the store's employees, asks, "Why did you wait to finish your explanation?"

A2 answers him, "If I didn't, it'd be unfair to the woman."

Kai wonders to which party was that really more unfair to.

"That woman likely isn't stealing food for fun." A2 goes on. "She probably needed it."

"Then why explain what she was doing right next to the manager?" Kai asks.

"Because if I didn't then it'd be unfair to the store." She explains.

Finding it hard to understand her, Kai asks for an explanation, "Why?"

"If I didn't say anything, the woman could've probably just continued stealing from here and this store will keep loosing money. If I said something to allow the manager to catch her earlier, she'd be in trouble and if she were stealing to feed someone else, that person would starve. By my timing of words, I gave both parties a compromise." A2 elaborates as their turn to check out comes up. "This store will not loose more money to the same thief if they are cautious, and the woman will have a chance to escape trouble by simply choosing to steal from a different store next time. It'd suck to be the manager of the next store of course, but life's life; it's never fair."

As Kai begins moving the items in their cart onto the table for the cashier to scan, he wonders why A2 bothered at all to interfere the way she did. Did she feel sorry for the woman or did she feel sorry for the store? She doesn't normally seem to care for the affairs of others, after all. Or at least, it's what he's observed of her during class since she doesn't seem to care about the troubles of their peers one bit.

...

Soon enough, they arrive back at A2's suite where A2 tells Kai to begin preparing the food. Not entirely sure how to prepare the sushi, Kai ends up looking up a recipe online. A2 didn't seem to care too much about that and just waits patiently. Once he begins cooking, however, A2 starts to watch over his shoulder like a curious child watching a parent cook. Although annoyed by this to some extent, Kai decides to tolerate her under the conclusion that she probably has little to no experience in the kitchen. Her habit of consuming mainly instant foods and junk food seem to support this perfectly anyway.

Two hours go by quickly. Kai had messed up seasoning the rice on the first try, but luckily they had more than enough rice for a second try. A2 had watched him work on it most of the way through, occasionally nipping off parts of the fish or a few grains of rice to taste it. When finally done, Kai sets down two plates of sushi on the dinner table as A2 sits in one seat, calmly awaiting her meal. She inspects it intensely for a moment and then looks up at him.

"You suck at this." She tells him. "The rolls are uneven in size, some of it is falling apart, and the ends are loose."

Kai looks at her, not even sure if he should be more amazed with her audacity to insult his work after not doing a thing to help or be more annoyed at her for the fact that he had spent two hours on this just to receive an insult from her.

"But," she goes on, "It shows you put effort into it and I think that part gives it an important touch that more than makes up for the visual aesthetic qualities that it lacks.

Hearing this, Kai smiles just a little, glad that at least she appreciates what he did.

"いただきます。 _(Bon appétit.)_ " A2 says, before digging in happily.

Kai returns the phrase but watches her for a moment before beginning to consume his own plate. This is the first time he's seen A2 actually seem purely happy, and not because she was about to pull another prank on him. Somewhat glad to see that she has a non-demonic side to her, he smiles, unnoticed by the girl before him as he eats the lunch that he had toiled so hard to prepare.

Soon finished, A2 calls her robotic servant RE:Mordred to her to take their now empty plates away to be cleaned. She then places a hand near her chest, as if about to take Dranzer out but lowers it. Turning to Kai, she says to him, "I have one more request."

Kai turns to her to hear her out.

"There is a place I wish to visit." She states. She then politely requests of him, "Please escort me there."

...

Getting off a different bus than the one they took earlier to buy sushi ingredients, Kai and A2 arrive at the entrance of a large park. They enter and walk along the main path for a while. Around them, colorful autumn leaves fall from the nearby groves, like thin rain, to the ground. The wind occasionally picks some of it up and scatters it around.

Soon enough, they arrive at a fork in the road. Between the two paths is a large sign with a map. A2 scans through it for a few moments and then leads them down the left, quieter path. They continue to walk on from there as before, occasionally passing a person or two. Soon there is another split ahead but as they are about to go down the smaller of the two paths, they notice a frantic, aged woman nearby begging a jogger for some form of aid. The jogger however, appears baffled by her and signals a "no" or an "I don't understand" before moving away. Noticing the woman turn to them, they wait to see what she needs.

"Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie Deutsch?" she asks.

Kai looks at her as baffled as the jogger before them. She seems to be of European descent so he guesses she was asking in a European language other than English.

Next to him, A2 replies, "Ja."

Kai turns to A2 and steps aside a little to let her deal with the woman who seems to be in a fit of thankfulness. From A2's reply and from the way the words were pronounced, he guesses they must be conversing in a Germanic language.

The woman goes on, "Können Sie mit bitte helfen, zurück zum Haus meines Sohnes zu finden? Ich komme aus Österreich und besuche Ihn derzeit. Ich bin ein wenig raus gegangen, aber ich habe mich verlaufen…"

A2 answers her, "Sicher. Sagen Sie mir wo er wohnt."

Kai watches as the woman takes out a small pouch from her bag and from it a small piece of paper. Unfolding the paper, she shows it to A2. A2 then replies to her, seemingly asking something. In response, the woman takes out a pen and gives it to A2 who then writes something down on the back of the paper in numbered steps. They converse for a little while in the process, mostly with the old woman asking questions and A2 answering them in seemingly short replies. Finally, the woman says, "Vielen Dank junge Frau. Sie waren eine große Hilfe."

After that, the woman waves them good bye and A2 watches her go before motioning for the two of them to continue on their way. As they pick up their pace again, Kai decides to ask, "Was that German?"

A2 nods, "Yes, she told me she's visiting her son from Austria and got lost when she went out from his house."

Kai didn't have anything to say to that; it seems like a fairly mundane matter to him, after all.

A2 then asks, "Were you impressed that I could speak German?"

Kai shrugs, "Maybe a little."

"Don't be." A2 tells him, "I'm a citizen of Germany by blood and nationality, after all. I ought to speak the language."

Kai then wonders if she has any ties to Japan but her fair skin, light hair and blue eyes leads him to dismiss the idea. Instead, he considers that she might simply be interested in Japanese culture like many foreigners are.

They soon come to a sizeable lake or pond. Upon spotting the pool of water, A2 leaves the pathway and walks quickly towards it. Kai follows behind her calmly, walking at a much slower pace. He watches as she bends down by the edge and brushes a hand through the clear lake water.

As he reaches where she is, she says to him, "When I was a child, I used to live near a beautiful, clean lake like this one. I visited it very often."

A2 removes her hand from the water to remove her sandals. Once those were off, she ties up the skirt of her dress and wades slowly into the water. She then begins to wade deeper and as she does, she begins to hum softly.

Kai watches her for a while like this, listening to her soft melody. A bright, red, maple leaf floats toward her and she picks it up. He notes her skilled singing voice and concludes she must've been interested in music at one point in her life. However, even more striking to him, is the resemblance of the tune in style to that of a typical Japanese children's folksong. He continues to listen to her hum for a while until she stops.

"Say," A2 says, turning partially to him. "That necklace of mine… Is it still safe?"

Hearing that, Kai figures she must have saw the one on Linnea's neck. He tells her, "Yeah, it's hidden in my room."

"I'm glad to hear that." She then asks a moment later, "Also, if you don't mind, what is the name of the girl who was with you yesterday?"

Kai is a little surprised that she asked, but answers, "Her name's Linnea. Why?"

"Linnea…" A2 turns from him again. "I see. I was just curious."

After a little while more, A2 begins to head back to shore. As she is about to step back onto the grass, however, her balance begins to fail her and she falls to the ground. Kai, having been standing near the shore, rushes towards her. He picks her up from the grass and asks her, "Are you alright?"

She nods softly. She then tries to sit up but falls back into his arms.

Kai scans her for a second, wondering what to do. She hasn't exactly fainted so there's no real need to send her to the emergency room but like this, she's not exactly okay either. Should he just take her home or maybe to a clinic?

He checks his phone to see the time until the next direct bus back to campus. According to the time displayed and his memory of the time the bus is supposed to arrive, they have about ten to fifteen minutes. Recalling that they had to walk quite some ways from the entrance to get here and again noting A2's current condition, he asks her, "A bus going back to campus will be here soon. Want me to take you home?"

A2 nods.

Following her reply, he helps her put her sandals back on and helps her up. He then leads her towards the paved path. As he is about to walk down along the road with her, he recalls the way the path had curved like an arc or semi-circle and wonders if they can cut through the trees to make it back to the entrance faster. Deciding to do just that, he leads her into the grove of trees off the side of the road carefully, making sure to guide the dizzy girl through the thickening trees as they go deeper in.

For a while, they traverse this way in silence. Kai was starting to get a little tired from having to support part of the girl's weight but didn't mind it too much; he had trained much harder in the past, after all.

However, as they approach a clearing, they hear a familiar voice muttering curses. Kai recognizes this voice immediately as that of the thug with the pistol from yesterday and stops in his tracks.

'Crap.' He curses in his mind.

It is too late for them however, as the thug had already heard them. Kai soon finds himself in nearly the same predicament as the day before: him standing before the thug with a girl who is helpless and the thug pointing his gun at him.

"This must be a joke." the thug says while eyeing Kai up and down. "It's like destiny wants me to shoot you."

'What a joke indeed…' Kai agrees with him mentally. He refrains from commenting out loud, however.

"Anyway, I was told that machine threatened to kill anyone who was in contact with me." The thug goes on with a smirk, "And I was also told that you and that little girl were the last to run."

Kai waits for him to make his point.

"The fact that you're standing here before me must mean that the machine from yesterday somehow spared you." the thug deduces. "I refuse to believe that thing couldn't catch a single person it was trying to pursue."

Kai stays silent.

"You and that lady pilot know each other, don't you?" the thug takes a step closer. "I saw when you started shouting to yourself back at the junkyard. You were somehow contacting that machine, right?"

Again, Kai chooses not to say anything.

The thug moves onto his main point, "Tell me who that machine's affiliated with? Is it really the military?"

He shoots at the ground directly before Kai's feet.

"Or is it someone private?" he aims the gun at Kai again.

Kai simply stares back at him. Chances are, they're not going unscathed this time. No matter what he tells him, this guy isn't going to let them go so they can rat him out to the police and surely he can't be happy with what he did yesterday to one of his underlings. Additionally, if A2 says a word, he'll recognize her voice and then things will be really troublesome then. Not sure what he can do to protect them both and knowing that this guy isn't into negotiations, he does not answer him.

"Well?" the thug impatiently demands.

A2, who is now feeling a bit better, looks up from the ground and at the thug. She had been conscious this whole time and had been following their situation perfectly. Probably having realized the same as Kai, she uses all of the strength she can muster to shove herself from his support. She then moves in front of him and positions herself directly between him and the thug before whispering to him in a low voice that only he could hear, "Go."

Kai, however, is too shocked by her actions to move from his spot. She is using herself as a shield for him so he could get away. Why? It just didn't make any sense to him. Did she have some way to save herself after he leaves? Was she going to somehow contact her robots to fly here again and save her? But even if her robots came, she'd be dead by then; the guy already has his pistol pointed at them. Was this so she could make sure that he won't expose the secret of the Nymph to the thug? Why would she do this? His thoughts continue to circle round and round in his mind as he stands there.

The thug on the other hand looks at them confused. "What the hell is this?"

A2 neither answers him or moves.

"Hey girl, move out of the way if you don't wanna die." The thug tells her. "He's the one with the information I want."

A2 does not budge from where she is.

The thug warns her again, "Look girl, I don't know what your deal is, but I just want some cash outta him and right now, any legit info about that machine just happens to sell for some nice prices, so move it and let a man make some money."

Again, she does not move.

Fed up and realizing she's probably going to stand there to protect him no matter what, he moves his finger to pull the trigger but is interrupted when the gun is knocked out of his hands by a fast moving object.

"Stop right there!" a female voice shouts.

The thug nurses his twisted wrist and turns to the source of the sound as three more of beyblades fly out from the trees and circle him

Emily steps out from behind a nearby tree, followed by Max, Michael and Rick.

"Boy, that was close!" Max comments. He then turns to Kai and A2. "You guys alright?"

Kai looks at his former teammate in surprise and nods slightly. A2, seeing that they are no longer in danger, collapses again but Kai catches her.

Max then begins to surround the thug with Michael and Rick while Emily goes to where the pistol had landed and kicks it further away.

"Alright, hands in the air unless you want us to get rough." Rick tells the thug.

He doesn't listen however, so Rick grabs him by his injured wrist and pins him to the floor instead, causing a painful yelp to fill the air.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kai asks.

"We were having a picnic earlier and we started playing a game of volleyball but then Rick lost the ball…" Michael tells him.

"Hey! You were the one who couldn't set the ball, so don't blame it on me!" Rick protests with the thug wriggling in pain underneath him.

"What are you talking about?" Michael argues with him. "You were the one who served the ball too far!"

Max then takes out his phone to call the police while the two of them go on and on behind him about their lost ball. In a mere few minutes, the police arrive to take the thug away. Everyone there also gives a brief testimony on what happened. Luckily for A2, Emily, Max, Michael and Rick didn't seem to know what the thug was talking about when he was threatening them due to being a little too far away. When it is Kai and A2's turn to be questioned, they pretend the same as well, only emphasizing the thug's use of a lethal weapon to threaten them. Of course, the police did want to know why they were being threatened but they simply told the police that the thug was not speaking in a logical manner and, as a result, they were not sure what he wanted from them.

...

Once they were done with the police, they all returned to their respective universities. Kai and A2, having parted with Michael upon arrival back at the university's bus stop, now walk quietly in the setting sun towards the residential community in which A2 lives. Although A2 had gotten much better now, Kai insisted on walking her back anyway. They soon arrive at the entrance to A2's dorm where they stop.

A2 digs a little into the front of her dress and pulls out a familiar blue blade. She turns to Kai and holds it out for him, saying, "Here."

Kai reaches a hand out to take it.

A2 smiles, this time genuinely, without her usual hint of devilishness. She adds, "I had fun today. Thank you."

Kai puts Dranzer away and returns the smile. However, to his surprise, A2 comes up to him and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. He touches the spot where she had kissed him as she backs away from him again.

"That's for having fulfilled both of my requests today." She tells him. She then goes on, "Since you did say you'd only serve me until you got 'Dranzer' back and I did only want you to serve me for a temporary period, I guess as of this moment, you're free to go."

Kai looks at her, somewhat surprised by that. He says to her, "Thanks…I guess."

A2 then turns to go inside but looks back to him. "By the way,"

Kai waits for her to go on.

"Tomorrow, no matter what happens, don't come here." She tells him sternly. "You should also refrain from contacting me until Monday."

Kai is rather perplexed by her request, but nods.

She smiles, "Well then, I guess I'll see you in class on Monday."

With that, she enters the glass doors of the building and disappears inside.


	11. The Unexpected Visitor

### The Unexpected Visitor

"…and this area here is where members in the club actually have their beybattles. We only meet twice a week though, since it's pretty hard to book all the rooms in the gym like this…"

Kai leans on the railing watching some amateurs blade in the humongous dish below while Michael continues to talk about the club at their school. Emily and Max had come by as well today, mostly just to hang out here.

Yesterday, after Kai saw A2 off at her door, he could not help but wonder about two things. It wasn't that these two things were important, per se. In fact, they were more or less the opposite. He had a huge list of readings and written assignments that he was scheduled to complete and those two thoughts just kept getting in the way of his focus. Luckily, he had excellent self discipline and managed to pull through, but now that he no longer has to complete anything mandatory, his mind has wandered straight back to those thoughts.

Just why did A2 try to shield him? Was she really that desperate to hide the machine's secrets? Or maybe she really had a way of dealing with the thug? But what plan could she possibly have had? She wasn't trying to shield him purely to try to save him, was she? That'd be pure idiocy. She was definitely beyond that…or was she?

Kai then shifts his thoughts to the other matter that had been occupying his mind. When he saw her off yesterday afternoon, she had asked him not to contact or visit her today no matter what. But why? Was something going on today?

'Dammit. I can't even go ask her why she did what she did…' Kai curses in his mind. He just _had_ to forget to ask her about this yesterday…

He sighs. 'Well, at least it's just until tomorrow.'

"Hey Kai," Emily snaps him back to the present. "You okay? You look a little frustrated…"

Michael stops talking now.

"Hn." Kai turns from the amateurs.

Seeing as he can't really focus on what's going on around him anyway, he begins to walk away from the American team, causing Michael, Emily and Max to look at one another.

However, as he approaches the exit of the room, a group of three walks in and unintentionally blocks his way. He tries to move pass them but before he can, one of them recognizes him and says, "Hey, you're Kai Hiwatari, right? The world famous beyblader?"

"Yeah," Kai replies, keeping one eye on the speaker. "Who's asking?"

"I didn't think I'd be seeing the former world champion and current runner up in a place like this." He sneers arrogantly.

Kai turns from him to leave. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with an egotistic loudmouth today.

Behind him, Michael, Emily and Max watch silently.

The guy, ticked off by Kai's attitude, stops him by the shoulder as he is about to step out.

"Hey," the guy addresses him, rather offended. "Don't just walk away from me. Do you even know who I am?"

Kai slaps his hand off of him before turning to face him. He then says, "Don't touch me."

The guy growls, nursing his hand. "Why you…"

"And obviously, I have no idea who you are since you failed to introduce yourself." Kai adds.

He turns to go but the guy behind him stops him again, this time with a challenge.

"Kai Hiwatari sure likes to act like he's tough." He announces obnoxiously. He then says in a much louder voice, "But I bet he's trying to leave because he's afraid that I'll beat him in a beybattle if he sticks around!"

Kai stops now. Most of the amateurs below in the dish who have heard the commotion on the second landing stop as well, some in awe at the fact that Kai is here and others just excited that they might get to see a world class beyblader in action.

Kai turns back to him. Now rather irritated, he asks his challenger, "Care to back that up?"

The guy looks a little shaken for a moment by Kai's glare but smirks and says confidently, "I can do that in my sleep."

Now, realizing what is about to unfold, Michael facepalms himself and steps in to try to stop the guy, "That's enough, Raphael. Cut it out."

The guy turns to Michael now and ask rudely, "What's _your_ problem?"

"He's out of your league." Michael tells him. "You're just going to embarrass yourself."

"Buzz off, Michael!" the guy called Raphael retaliates. "You said the same thing about yourself and I still tied with you."

Emily then adds, "…that's because you had your lackeys exhaust him out first, remember?"

"What? Are you sore about it?" he barks to her.

Emily simply looks away.

Max sighs but since it wasn't directed at him, he chooses not to say anything.

Raphael then turns back to Kai. "I don't need anyone's help. I bet I can beat you fair and easy."

Kai doesn't respond to that.

Michael sighs. "Well if you're so bent on doing this, then let's get down to the dish. I'll be the referee."

"Make sure you're fair about it." Raphael mouths as Kai begins walking down to the dish coolly after Michael.

Soon enough, the two of them are facing each other on opposite sides of the arena. Michael, standing to the side between them, watches as they mount their respective blades onto their launchers. The other bladers have gathered around as well to watch.

When they appear ready, Michael counts down for them, "Three…Two…One…Let it rip!"

...

Elsewhere, in a plain and almost bare living room, A2 lays curled on the sofa with her faithful robotic servant by her side. A laptop placed on the coffee table near them rings continuously in a low volume besides a melting castle made from what appears to be whipped cream, colored cereal pieces and marshmallows.

"I can't tell her there was some sort of mistake in the programming…" A2 says to herself while dangling her hand to pet Hika who lies stretched at the foot of the couch. "She knows I'd never make a big enough mistake to have it launch on its own…"

The laptop continues to ring.

"Telling her the truth is out of the question too; I was never supposed to prioritize anyone above the project." A2 stops petting her cat and turns on her back. "Besides, using that reason will lead the conversation towards revealing the fact that I let someone into the lab out of sheer laziness…"

The ringing stops and a prompt appears on the laptop's screen to inform A2 that she had missed a call from "Elena". Without looking, A2 reaches one hand towards her laptop and closes the message. She then sits up and turns towards the fluffy white sculpture beside it.

"Maybe I can say I was in danger and had RE:Mordred bring it out to save me…" she mutters while picking some marshmallows up from a nearby bowl to decorate the dessert sculpture some more.

One of her suitemates, Renée, passes by the living room on her way to the kitchen right at that moment. Upon noticing the edible artwork on their coffee table, she comments, "Wow, that looks really nice, A2."

A2 however, pays her no mind and continues her analytical monologue, "No…that would just open up two new problems."

Renée looks at her oddly, confused by what she had said.

"What danger could've been so great that it'd prompt the use of the Nymph?" A2 mutters staring at the sculpture before her in a focused manner. "Additionally, that statement will likely lead to a one-way trip back to Munich by Tuesday."

"Nymph…? Munich…?" Renée repeats. She blinks a little, confused. "Maybe it's that new historical fantasy MMO she kept looking at last week…"

Renée resumes her way to the kitchen where she gets out some ingredients to start cooking.

"Even if I try to skip the explanation by convincing Elena to let me stay, she'd likely still try to wring the truth out of me." A2 lays back down on the couch. Her laptop begins to ring again, but as before, A2 ignores it. Jokingly, she muses, "I wonder if that freshman will be upset if I broke my word about being able to stay…"

The ringing soon stops and A2 closes the missed call prompt again. She then rolls over and recalls how desperate Kai had seemed on the day he made her agree to tutor him and the uneasy look on his face when she brought up the fact that her family might remove her from the university. A2 wonders out loud, "I wonder why he's so determined to do well in a class he has no interest in…"

Just then, the doorbell rings and pulls A2 from her thoughts. Renée, who has her hands full in the kitchen, asks, "A2, I know you're busy thinking about something but I have my hands full marinating some meat. Could you go get the door please?"

The doorbell rings again.

A2 gets up from the couch and begins making her way to the door. As she does, she responds to Renée, "Sure."

"Thanks," Renée tells her, opening the door of their freezer. She then begins to search through it. "Where did my salmon and tuna go…?"

Upon opening the door, A2 finds three people before her. Two of them, a man and a woman, both some good few years above her age, stand dressed in black suits some distance away from her. Before them, kneeling on one knee is a much younger man in his mid twenties. Although he too is dressed in business attire, there is something about him that makes him much goofier than the two behind him.

"Good morning, my dear younger sister," the man before her says, holding up a large bouquet of flowers. "I have braved the gardens of King Lauren and brought you the finest bouquet of roses in the world!"

A2 looks at him rather unamused. She then points out to him, "There's a tag on it bearing the name and logo of a local flower shop that I passed by yesterday."

Her brother immediately checks the tag on the bouquet while the two in suits behind him attempt to suppress a laugh. He looks back up to his sister. "Uh…."

A2 then asks, "If you're done with your little stunt, I have two questions for you."

He gets up from the floor of the hallway now.

"First, what did you think you were doing?" she asks.

Her brother replies sheepishly, "Doting on my younger sister…?"

"…Perhaps if you define 'doting' as making laughable romantic gestures." A2 then adds, "I'd like to remind you that I'm your sister and not one of your women. In case you're ignorant of basic botany and have recently become colorblind, those flowers you bought are red roses – the most famous symbol of romantic love in Victorian floriography."

Now her brother takes a look at the flowers. Rather taken aback by the accidental "message", he smoothly hands the flowers over to the female behind him who responds with an irritated look.

As he does that, A2 moves on, "Second, what are you doing here today? If I'm not mistaken, last time I checked, you were supposed to have about eight social meetings today with various company executives and VIPs, right?"

Her brother straightens up now. He answers her, "I had them all rescheduled for another day."

A2 seems just a little surprised by this. She asks, "Did sister send you here?"

Her brother shakes his head. "Nuh-uh. I'm here on my own accord."

A2 falls silent upon hearing this.

"Elena's furious, A2." He tells her. "Why did you expose such a crucial part of the project to the world?"

...

Back at the dish in the gym, Kai stands still with his eyes closed, listening to the whistle of the blades in the dish before him, quite bored and annoyed. Raphael's gold and silver blade has been attacking him for a while now...or rather, _trying_ to attack him. Around them, Emily is trying to suppress a laugh while Max and Michael are trying to hide the embarrassment they're feeling for the guy Kai's fighting. The others who had gathered to watch when they heard that Kai is here are now gossiping amongst themselves. Their jeering voices indicate that they, too, are mocking the guy before him openly for having yet to make a hit that Kai couldn't avoid.

"This is a waste of my time." Kai states in a low voice.

He had expected this guy to at least be somewhat decent since he had the guts to proclaim he's better than someone who participated continuously in the world championships but he can see now just how wrong that assumption was.

"Y-You making fun of me?" the guy stutters, his previous confidence now fading. "I-I'll get you, I was just playing around."

Kai opens his eyes and stares into the orbs of his opponent. As he does, Dranzer's spin begins to grow stronger as well. He asks, "Well then, are you done playing?"

Raphael takes a step back.

Michael, from the side between the two, fights the urge to turn away.

"Go Kai!" Emily cheers him on from behind Michael, eager to see his opponent loose.

"Fine, I won't hold back!" the guy cries, charging at Kai again with his gold and silver blade.

"Good," Kai finally moves his Dranzer from the center of the dish. "'Cause I've got better things to do than sitting still and playing target practice for an amateur like you! Dranzer!"

Dranzer, in response to Kai's commanding voice accelerates towards the edge of the dish where it spins around rapidly a few times to pick up momentum. It then becomes engulfed in a fiery glow and charges straight towards the enemy's blade like a meteor, knocking it high into the air.

In the aftermath of the battle, the gold and silver blade lands audibly in the silence of the stunned audience. The blade, once shiny and magnificent, now appears battered and visibly damaged at the spot where Kai's Dranzer had struck.

Seeing the obvious result of the battle, Michael sighs and announces, "Kai wins!"

Kai catches Dranzer as it flies back into his hand. Around him, the audience begins to cheer. "Hn."

He turns to go. As he walks away, he can hear the chatter from some of the bladers in the audience talking about the match amongst themselves. The guy he just beat, however, is sore and claiming that he won by a fluke – not that he cares, of course. Various female bladers who were in the audience also run up to him but he walks pass them without saying a word and soon exits the facility.

...

Meanwhile, outside of her dorm building, A2 watches a small ways away as her brother signals for his bodyguards to keep some distance from them and out of earshot. The two guards nod in compliance and back off as told. Her brother then joins her and they begin to walk with the two guards tailing behind from a safe distance.

Her brother restarts their conversation from before, "So?"

A2 does not respond.

He goes on, "What excuse do you have to offer for it?"

A2 continues walking with him without answering his question. More precisely, she still isn't sure how to answer to that question.

"Well?" her brother urges her.

She remains silent, causing him to sigh when he realizes she will not answer.

"You know, Elena's going to want to know what happened so if you don't tell me here, you're just inviting her to come and ask in person." He tells her.

A2 remains silent still. A small while later, as they pass some students playing Frisbee in a nearby field, she asks, "Karl, does she know you're here?"

"No," he answers. "I came because I figured if I didn't come today to ask you about it, she'll come here by tomorrow or the day after. You two don't get along too well, right?"

A2 nods.

"So come on," Karl stops walking now that they're in a more or less empty part of campus. "Tell me already."

A2 and the bodyguards behind them stop as well. She turns to face him.

"I don't have any excuse to offer." She tells him bluntly. "I simply flew out with it and came back when I was done."

"So am I suppose to visit Elena tomorrow and tell her you flew out in the machine on a whim for fun?"

A2 half jokingly replies, "I suppose that's the only explanation."

Karl groans.

"Fine." He tells her. "But how do you plan to convince her to let you stay here? With no excuse to offer her, you give her no guarantee that you won't do anything else that'll endanger the project in the future. You understand how important all of this is to her, right?"

"Yes," A2 responds. "I do."

...

Kai turns the dial on the combination lock one more time and stops carefully at the final designated number. Hearing the lock unlock, he pulls the small mailbox door open and pulls out the envelopes inside. Glancing quickly through them, he finds that they are all from his friends back home or in Russia. With the exception of Kenny, with whom he stays in touch with by email, and Max, who attends a nearby school, the rest of his friends from the Blade Breakers seem to have all sent him mail at varying points in time over the last two weeks.

He opens the first envelope and reads the letter to himself as he leaves the school's postal office.

"Dear Kai,

How've you been, buddy? It's been a while since I last saw you, hasn't it? How's life in an American college treating you? I heard from Max that you're in a school close to his.

As for me, recently, I found a full time job nearby my house. It's really tiresome work but the pay is pretty good. Grandpa's turned Daichi into a fulltime student of his at our dojo these days and Hilary's studying to get into a local university. They both asked me to write "hi" by the way.

Anyway, we're thinking of paying you and Max a visit sometime around winter. That's if you guys don't mind of course. Or maybe you guys can come and visit us. Of course, I'm also going to ask if Ray can come along. It'd sure be nice to hang out like we used to.

Sincerely,  
Tyson,  
Hilary,  
Daichi."

Kai smiles, glad that his best friend is well. Of course, he had never expected Tyson to make it to university with the attitude he took towards schoolwork. Hilary had always been scolding his lack of effort in bettering his grades. At least he's managed to find a job, which is the important part.

He puts the letter back into its envelope and tugs it inside the inner pocket of his coat before proceeding to open the next letter. This one reads,

"Dear Kai,

How's everything going over there? I heard that you were accepted into a top notch school in America. I know it might be a bit late, but congratulations.

Over where I am, Mariah and I might get married soon. Lee and the others are rather supportive of it and even the kids in the village are already teasing us. They're also growing really fond of beyblading day by day. I'm just not sure how to propose yet.

Well, that about sums up everything big on my end. I hope things are going well for you too.

Sincerely,  
Ray"

Kai is a little surprised to read this. He didn't think Ray would be getting married already, but for now, he should probably find the time to wish him good luck proposing. Thinking about this a little more, he might even want to check if there's a time free for him to fly to China to attend Ray's wedding in the near future. He moves onto the last letter.

"Hey,

I don't know if you've heard but there's a prominent rumor going around that the next World Championships tournament's going to be in a best-of-five format. That means that every team is going to need to have five people minimum. I'd hate to take a total stranger as the fifth member of our team so if you want to, come join us again. You want another chance at battling Tyson, don't you?

Tala"

Kai thinks about this a little. Over the last two years after BEGA, he had bladed somewhat on and off on Tala's side so it's not like there's much reason to refuse. Besides, the idea of having another go at Tyson was reason enough for him to join in again. He decides that he'll get back to Tala affirmatively a little later. Pocketing the last letter, he continues his way back to his room.

...

Elsewhere, Linnea sits quietly with a group of female friends in a bustling dining hall. Half eaten plates of food lie scattered about the table before them as they discuss various topics of interest. To Linnea, however, at the moment, this sounds nothing short of just another source of background noise as her mind wanders, lost in the events of two days ago.

She recalls the moment when she met the eyes of the strawberry-blond haired girl whose face so resembled that of her own. At that moment, the girl who had piloted the giant machine to rescue her and Kai was standing on the landing of her machine's cockpit. The girl had looked her way for a brief moment because she had repeated the name that Kai spoke.

She then recalls when that girl had told her and Kai to hold onto the back of her seat inside the cockpit of the machine. She remembers that at that time, the earring on the girl's right ear had caught her eye and she had briefly stared at it.

Why did someone entirely foreign to her have an identical copy of that earring? Is it the same pair? Or is it different...?

"Linnea?"

…Why is there a girl whose face is nearly identical to that of her own? Every other feature from natural hair color, to eye color and even height is different, though…

"Linnea? Earth to Linnea~!"

What if…?

"Linneaaa~! Hello? Anyone in there?"

"Huh?" Linnea stops leaning on the back of the chair and turns to her friend who seems to have been trying to get her attention for a while now.

"Are you okay there?" her friend asks. "You've been spacing out…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologizes quickly. "I'm fine, really. Sorry about that."

"So anyway, are you interested?" her friend asks.

"Interested?" Linnea looks at her confused. "In what?"

Her friend shakes a poster in front of her face now. "This! The Halloween event that we've been discussing for like, the past fifteen minutes."

Linnea reads the poster before her. "A Halloween concert? They're asking interested students to audition for a spot…"

"Yup." Her friend then mentions, "Sera's already decided she'll give it a try."

Linnea turns to her roommate who nods. Turning back to the dangling poster before her, Linnea takes it and stares at it a little, not sure if she wants to try it.

"I'm…not really sure." She tells her friends.

"What do you mean you're not sure!?" her friend asks, shocked. "Come on, you said you've always loved to sing, right?"

Linnea nods. "It's just…well…"

"Hm? What?" Her friend urges her on. "Come on, you sing so well!"

Contrary to the effect intended by her friend, Linnea feels even more insecure upon hearing that. However, right at that moment, she spots someone familiar outside the window.

She utters his name, "Kai…"

"Huh?" Her friends turn to the window now.

Deciding she'd go greet him, Linnea gets up and rushes to the exit.

...

Outside, Kai strolls casually pass the dining hall and begins walking up an ascending path to where his residential community is. However, after taking the first few steps, he hears a voice calling his name behind him.

"Kai!" the voice calls.

Kai turns to see Linnea running up towards him. She soon catches up and stops before him panting, taking out a small pouch of candy from her purse.

"Uhm…This is a small thank you gift for you and your friend from the other day." She says, holding it out for him to take. "I didn't know what you and your friend would like so I just saved some candy from the birthday party. I hope you're okay with it."

Kai takes the small pouch and examines it. "Thanks…I guess."

"No, I'm the one who should be grateful. I don't know what might have happened to me if it weren't for you guys the other day." She tells him eagerly. She then asks, "Could you pass the word to the girl who came for us as well? Tell her I said thank you."

Kai nods. "Sure."

He then turns to resume his way.

"Oh, uhm…" Linnea stops him.

Kai returns his attention to her. "Hm?"

"Can I ask you for some brief advice?" Linnea asks. "If you're not too busy that is…"

"What is it?" Kai allows her to inquire.

"There's an event this Halloween on campus that I want to participate in. It's a live performance that, if I'm interested, I have to audition for." She tells him nervously. "I'm not sure if I should try it."

Kai looks at her for a moment. He then tells her, "If you're interested, then try."

Linnea, surprised to hear such a simple piece of advice, asks, "But what if I embarrass myself or fail the auditions?"

"Then things don't go the way you want or you just don't get to perform." He answers bluntly. He then asks her, "Would you rather regret not trying to begin with?"

Linnea takes his words and thinks for a moment. Seeing as there's not much else to say, Kai resumes his way home again.

Noticing him go, Linnea shouts behind him, "Thanks!"

Kai smiles, watching her return happily to her friends at the entrance of the dining hall. He continues on his way and soon finds himself passing by the residential community in which A2 lives. Recalling that half the pouch of candy is to be shared with A2, he considers dropping that half off but decides against it, recalling A2's request regarding today.

However, as he is about to move on, he spots A2 in the distance. With her, is a tall, blond haired man who appears just a bit older than her. Two people in suits seem to be tagging along behind them too. He watches as they converse for a while. Eventually they stop in front of A2'S dorm building where the blond male bends down towards A2 for a little before parting with her.

Kai wonders if this is the reason why A2 didn't want him to visit or contact her today. Did she plan to have this guy visit her? Who is this guy anyway? What was he doing just now? Was he kissing her? From his point of view, he couldn't tell what he was doing to her, but the possibility of it made him feel rather uneasy.

Seeing A2 head inside to her suite, he resumes his way back to his room.


	12. Exam I, Quantum Mechanics

### Exam I, Quantum Mechanics

Kai stares at the empty desk one seat away in his in his usual corner of the classroom. Despite the fact that today is the day before their first quantum mechanics exam, A2 did not bother to show up for lecture. Not that it's much of a surprise to Kai, though. By now, after having known the girl for about two weeks, he's pretty certain that she probably never learns anything here anyway. In fact, all along, she was probably just attending class for the sake of killing time or watching the other students suffer for her own amusement. This leads Kai to wonder why she's even attending university in the first place, but ultimately, he concludes that she probably just wanted that piece of paper at the end of her time here that certifies her proficiency in a particular subject. It never hurts to have more certifications after all.

He turns from her seat to the chalk board where his professor is lecturing.

"…when you have a particle with spin-½ precessing in a magnetic field, the Hamiltonian in the time evolution operator that governs the particle's spin state over time is generally of the form _Ĥ= –_ _ **μ·B**_ , where _**μ**_ is equal to _–gq_ _ **Ŝ**_ _/2mc_. However, when performing actual calculations, it is common to set this to _ωo_ …"

…And of course, as usual, he still can't understand a thing in this class.

It wasn't the fault of A2's method of teaching though. Overall, the math packets that A2 had been giving him had greatly improved his understanding of some of the calculations shown in his textbook. In fact, he had never learned so many advanced mathematical concepts in his life – from basic and advanced calculus to differential calculus, basic linear algebra and even some aspects of advanced linear algebra. Reflecting on the amount of material he had covered in the short time of two weeks, he actually feels a little proud of himself. The problem, however, lies in the fact that A2 has yet to teach him any actual physics. Every time, he saw words like spin, state, or Hamiltonian, he automatically felt lost and dizzy.

He sighs.

Shifting his position, he places a hand into his pocket where he feels the pouch of candy from Linnea that he had brought with him today. He recalls that Linnea had mentioned she wanted to give this to both him and A2. Of course, since A2 isn't here today, he concludes, 'I guess I'll share this with her later at the lab.'

...

Soon enough, the lecture is over and the professor lets the students go. Not having to study for his exam tomorrow and having no urgent work to do for his other classes, Kai decides to head over to the lab early to get his work over with. He takes the usual route there but despite waiting at the clearing that serves as the entrance to the lab for a while, A2 does not grant him entrance. Finding it peculiar, he wonders if she is even at the lab at all at this time and calls her on his phone.

"…The number you have reached is currently unavailable."

He hangs up. The message being played immediately after he dialed the call told him that A2's phone is either off, without signal or out of range. Seeing no point in sticking around, he leaves the entrance area and returns the way he came to campus.

'Maybe A2 isn't here yet…' he guesses.

He _did_ come a good few hours earlier than usual, after all. He decides he'll go practice his 'blading for a while and come back later at around the usual time.

...

Much to Kai's surprise however, when he returns a few hours later, he is still not granted entry. He stands in the golden dyed clearing, watching the last rays of light in the sky fade as the sun sinks below the horizon.

He recalls his first time here last Wednesday. A2 specifically instructed him to be here at this time every day. This means she would have to be here as well to let him in since she's the only one with the biometrics and security information to control the entryway. But why is she not letting him in? Is she not here? Or maybe she _is_ here but is deliberately choosing not to let him come inside? No, if she didn't want him to show up she would have probably notified him of it. She never seems to get enough free labor out of him anyway. He tries to call her again.

"…The number you have reached is currently unavailable."

Now, Kai is wondering what's going on with A2. While it wasn't a big surprise that she wasn't in class, he finds it a bit strange that she's not at the lab. She never came off as the irresponsible type. Is something going on with her?

He recalls the event from yesterday when he passed by her residential community. He had seen her walk around with a man slightly older than they are. Who was he? Does he have anything to do with why she seems to be missing today? And then there was the way they parted with one another. Why did the thought of her being close to another man bother him?

He then returns to the thought that had bugged him for most of yesterday. Why did A2 try to shield him back at the park on Saturday? After having gone over this so many times, he can't find a single reason why she'd do that. He is certain that there was no way she could have saved herself back there; she was so dizzy that she could hardly stand up on her own.

He decides to pay her a visit at her suite and turns around to head there.

...

Soon arriving at A2's door, he rings the doorbell lightly and waits. A moment later, someone answers the door. This time, it was neither A2 nor Milly but a different girl, a shy one with dark hair and round glasses.

"Uhm, hello." She greets her visitor. "Can I help you?"

"Is A2 home?" Kai asks, getting straight to the point.

"A2?" The girl then says, "I haven't seen her since she left yesterday evening."

"She left yesterday evening?" Kai repeats.

"Yes," the girl affirms.

Kai is a little surprised by this. So far, A2 seemed so asocial he wouldn't imagine her going anywhere in her free time other than online to play that game of hers or to the lab. Out of curiosity, he asks, "Do you know where she went?"

"I'm not sure," the girl replies. "I saw her getting picked up by some people in suits in a limo, though."

Kai thinks back again to the guy she was with yesterday. Wasn't he wearing a suit? The feeling of unease from before intensifies. He asks, "By any chance, did she say when she'll be back?"

The girl shakes her head. "Nope."

Kai thinks for a moment. Not having anything else to ask, he tells her, "Thanks," and leaves.

...

The hours pass quickly and soon evening had transitioned into night. Now rather late, Kai places his books back where they belong and climbs into bed. Shutting his eyes, he tries to go to sleep in preparation for tomorrow morning's exam. However, try as he might to put his mind to rest for the night, his thoughts cannot seem to stop circulating in his head.

Where had A2 gone yesterday?

Leaving with a bunch of suits in a limo?

Will she really be back in time for tomorrow morning's exam?

He reflects on their conversation in her living room back on Saturday.

_"…My family will no doubt think highly of the idea of removing me from the university along with the equipment in the lab here to avoid any further risks…"_

_"…Luckily for you, I don't have any intention of leaving this university just yet. I'll try to convince them to relax and to let me stay."_

He thinks back to the guy in the suit who was with her. That guy was certainly too young to be her dad. Who was he?

And then there is the question he was never able to ask her the last two days…

Eventually, his tiredness sweeps over him and he falls into a deep sleep.

...

Morning comes quickly and Kai opens his eyes to the greet dawn's bright rays. Listening to the sound of chirping birds outside for a little while, he gradually finds himself more and more awake. Eventually, he notices the lack of sound from his alarm clock and sits up. Turning to the device in question, he reads the time and finds that, not only has he slept straight through his alarm, but is it now twenty minutes before the start of his exam. Realizing he must hurry if he wants to make it to the classroom on time, he jumps out of bed and hurriedly puts on the earring that A2 gave him before grabbing his toothbrush and rushing off to the bathroom.

Luckily for Kai, he ultimately manages to make it to his exam but just by one minute before the exam's official start time. Earning an amused look from his professor, he accepts the exam paper that his instructor is offering him and sits down in his usual seat in the back. Quickly glancing around the room, he notices no one seems to have begun the exam yet and sighs. However, taking another look, he begins to panic.

A2 is not here.

"Alright, it is now 8:30. You may begin the exam. Best of luck to you all!" the professor says as everyone flips their exam paper over to begin.

Following their lead, Kai tensely does the same and opens his exam to the first of four questions. From the format of his test, it would seem that in the hour he is given, he is expected to complete four long answer problems, each worth 25 points. According to the instructions, each step of the solution is expected to be written out. He reads the first question to himself:

"1. Given the state | _ψ_ ⟩ _= N_ ( _i_ | _1,1_ ⟩ _+2_ | _1,0_ ⟩ _+3_ | _1,-1_ ⟩) in the z-basis,

a) Normalize | _ψ_ ⟩ and find the normalization constant _N_.  
b) Using matrices, find the expectation value of _Sz_.  
c) Write _Ȓ(θ)_ _ **k**_ in matrix form in the _Sz_ basis. Then, find the probability that a measurement of _Sz_ for _Ȓ(π/2)_ _ **k**_ | _ψ_ ⟩ will yield ℏ/2. "

Not knowing what it means to "normalize" or how to find the "normalization constant" or "expectation values" or what " _Sz_ " and " _Ȓ(θ)_ _ **k**_ " are, Kai moves onto the next problem.

"2. Using the projection operators, derive the completeness relation."

Projection operators? Like in linear algebra? But what's _P_ defined as?

Kai stares at this question. At least the "completeness relation" part vaguely rings a bell. Turning the page over to the next question and then the one after, he sees that the latter half of his exam appears equally difficult and seems to be asking about a change of basis from _Sz_ to _Sx_ and polarization of photons. From what he has seen, if he only knew what these terms and operators are in definition, he can probably complete these problems using the math that A2 taught him.

If only he knew what the definitions are…

In front of the room, the clock ticks by. Kai attempts to write something down for each question of his exam but to no avail. Without the definitions for these terms and operators, he cannot really write anything significant. As the end of the exam nears, his classmates, one by one, begin to leave the room. As each one leaves, Kai can hear the door of the classroom opening and each time, he would look up in hopes of seeing A2 walk in, even if later than scheduled. To his disappointment, she never comes.

Eventually, time is called.

Being amongst the few still left in the classroom, Kai closes his exam packet and silently hands it to the professor who has come to him to collect his test. As the remaining students and the professor leave, Kai remains still in his seat.

He recalls his deal with his grandfather.

That day, his grandfather sat at his usual place at the end of the long dining table in the dining room of their estate. Due to Kai's rather mediocre grades in academics, his grandfather had called him in to discuss his plans for improvement. At the end of their discussion, Voltaire had made it clear:

"I will send you to an elite university overseas in America." He said, his silhouette standing out in great contrast against the bright window of the room. "If you work hard there and do well, then until the day you are to take my place as the CEO of Hiwatari Enterprises, you are free to do as you wish in the beyblading world."

That was the deal that Kai had agreed to.

…But now what will he do?

Recalling the basic grading scheme of the class, 80% of his grade will be based on his exams. Right now, he is certain that he has failed one of them. Knowing that this exam is probably worth about 20% of his final grade, he ponders on his options.

His first option would be: Withdrawal.

He can withdraw from the course and he will never have to look at any of this again. Of course, with that comes the task of explaining this to his grandfather. Maybe the old man will forgive him and overlook this one "W" on his transcript if he does well enough in everything else. He never had a chance to begin with anyway. From the start, he placed himself in this class by pure accident.

Pure accident…

Yeah, right. The only reason this "accident" ever happened was because of his own carelessness – the fact that he was more concerned for a beyblade tournament than preparing for college. Just that part alone will probably enrage the old man.

He then shifts to his next option: Going for Pass/Fail.

But can he even pass? So far, from homework to quizzes and even his first exam, he's received nothing but zeros in this class. He's probably lost about a quarter of his grade by now and there's no guarantee that more of it won't be lost.

Maybe he should consider being disinherited. He'd be able to keep beyblading for sure that way. But would that really be the best?

No. Of course not. He was born as the Hiwatari family's heir expecting to one day become its head. Where will he even go if he were to abandon that path and start over? Sure, he can follow his dad's footsteps but does he really want to do that over a sport?

He then thinks of Tyson.

It'd sure be nice to face his old friend again in a match. Just one more time…one more chance to surpass him…

Another person then pops into his mind: A2.

Where was she all this time?

He recalls her words last Wednesday.

_"I'm the one who will help you…"_

_"…And yes, it's called cheating…"_

_"…I will be out of the room by seventeen minutes into the test latest. I'll be at somewhere safely away in about three more minutes after I get out. The remaining forty minutes should be enough for you to write down the answers I give you."_

In the empty, unoccupied classroom, Kai cracks up, scaring some passers by outside in the hall.

What the hell…

She said she'd be there…

She said that she'd keep her end of the deal and help him do well in this class…

…That she'd make sure that he'll pass.

He laughs harder now.

He trusted her…

He trusted her way too much.

Who the hell was he to her that she'd try so hard to help him pass anyway? Sure he might have an item or two that's important to her but what if she's already forgotten about it or no longer cares?

His laugh fades. Leaning back, Kai stares at the ceiling blankly for a while. He eventually gets up off the seat and exits the room.

...

Deciding to skip the remainder of his classes for the day, he heads back in the direction of his dorm building. However, as he is about to cross the road that divides the academic complexes from the residential communities, a taxi stops in front of him on the road and from it, a familiar girl emerges.

A girl with light, strawberry-blond hair…

After paying the taxi driver, she notices his presence and turns to him.

"A2…"


	13. Operation Puke

### Operation Puke

Kai utters her name, "A2…"

A2 closes the door of the taxi and turns more fully to him. However, she does not bother to greet him. Behind her, her long hair flutters in the moderately strong winds of autumn as the taxi drives away down the road.

Kai simply stands there facing her. He doesn't know what to say to her. Should he lash out at her for not being there? What difference would it make? He failed and crying about it isn't going to change his grade. Hell, A2 might not even care. He's never even seen her toil over her own classes despite the fact that she overloads them. She just might not care that she herself missed this exam.

A2, having been standing there a while now, makes a bored and irritated face. "If you don't have anything to say to me, then I'm going home."

She turns to go but her words had pulled Kai out of his thoughts.

"Where were you?" he asks her.

A2 turns back to him. "…'Where was I?' At what time?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Kai nearly yells. "You know what 'time' I'm referring to. The exam…You said you'd be there!"

"I was at the airport." A2 answers him in a dull tone.

"Airport?" Kai repeats. What was she doing there?

"Yes, the airport." A2 affirms for him. "The closest one from here with international civilian flights to and from Europe."

"…International flights to and from Europe?" Kai blinks at her with question. She did say that she's from Germany. Was she implying that something is going on with her family? He recalls the man she was with. Did someone come? Was _he_ from her family? That probability gave him a bit of relief. However, if so, why did she have to miss the exam?

Taking note of his dissatisfied expression, A2 explains, "Recall the hassle you brought upon me the past Friday. Since ultimately, I'm the one who made the decision to use the Nymph to save you, I had to answer to the resulting consequences. Remember?"

Kai remembers their discussion on Saturday morning now in A2's living room. "So you…"

"I had to return to Munich." A2 spells out for him.

This wasn't enough for Kai, however. Why couldn't she go to Munich _after_ their test?

"And you couldn't postpone it?" he asks, a bit of anger and annoyance leaking through his words.

A2 returns to him a question, "Would you have liked instead for me to be permanently called back to Munich after just the first test?"

Kai is surprised by her question but somewhat gets what it implied.

"Should I have waited just for this exam, I wouldn't have been able to return here. Others would have been hired to come and gather my belongings instead." She goes on, "Neither my sister nor my father can care less about one exam of mine; to them, the Nymph is of far greater importance."

Kai imagines for a moment his grandfather and his strictness in regards to their family business. He understands now why A2 couldn't have waited…But…

"Then why didn't you tell me all of this before hand?" he asks.

"Things are simply easier for me if you didn't know." A2 answers him. "Besides, why are you so angry?"

Now, Kai is furious. His fist clenches. His grades practically decided whether or not he can uphold his deal with his grandfather; they decided if or not he can inherit his family's business _and_ continue to beyblade. How _dare_ A2 speak as though it were some frivolous matter!

However, before he can actually express his frustrations, A2 asks him, "Tell me, did you actually believe I was going to let both you and I fail this exam?"

Kai looks at her confused. He already failed the exam just now and so did she since she wasn't there. What could she mean by that?

"I can still guarantee a full score for us both on that first exam, you know." She says with her usual, wintry, bored expression. "Provided, of course, everyone sat in their usual seats during the test as I had expected them to."

Kai recalls the general seating of his classmates and nods slowly to that, confused. What does seating during the exam have to do with anything?

"Good," she comments, "Then don't worry about it. Everything will be just fine."

Now, Kai is even more confused. Just fine? What did she mean? Did she have some way to fix this? How? Should he trust her on this? Should he give her another chance? Maybe she does care about her grade after all…?

...

Later, around five in the afternoon, Kai walks quietly down the hall on which his professor's office is located. Since the exam, his day has been nothing short of strange. Having decided to skip the remainder of his classes and to at least give A2 the benefit of the doubt, he had continued to work in her lab as a favor to her. Of course, since he was practically free all day today, he had decided to get it over with early and A2 had been fine with it. However, the idea of how she was going to fix their grades bugged him the whole day.

What was A2 planning to do about all of this? Kai had asked her about this twice today. Both times, the girl didn't say anything informative. He had some speculations but they don't seem to add up logically. He had considered that maybe she plans on hacking the school's computers again. After all, she had already done it twice, why not again? But if that were so, then why in the world did she ever start teaching him anything? She could have avoided all the work he placed on her by just promising him to change his grade to an "A" after the grades are submitted at the end of the semester. Why didn't she?

And then there was the possibility of using the re-grade option when the tests are handed back. If the professor made no copies of the exam, then it is perfectly possible to get him to re-grade it. However, something about this seems very unlikely. It's one thing to get a ten point bump or even twenty…but a ninety to a hundred point bump? That aside, A2 wasn't there. She wouldn't have an exam to hand in for a re-grade. How is she planning on saving her own score?

Is it possible maybe A2 doesn't even have any plans for their exam scores but just wants free labor out of him? While that may be so, she still did have a good reason for missing their exam. Or did she make that up?

Thoughts like these weren't all that bugged him, however. Something was very strange about her today too.

First, she usually just gave him a laundry list of tasks to perform at her lab. After that, she would normally just sit at the large monitor near the exit and play games. However, instead of that today, she was actually working. The normally, noticeably lazy girl was actually working! And what more, she was very diligent all day too. Not that Kai had understood any of what she was doing today, but he was surprised, to say the least.

That wasn't all though.

Later in the early afternoon, around two thirty, A2 actually offered to treat Kai to lunch when she heard his stomach growl. This would normally not seem so strange to Kai if it were a different person, say Tyson, Max or Ray…even Tala. However, this was A2 – the girl who would enslave him for a day as the price for saving his life. She was _never_ this considerate before today. Hell, just a week ago, she stormed into his suite to wake him up at one in the morning to help her break into someone's room to find her cat. Being treated to a meal by her – and expensive food items, to add – just seemed…as though he had somehow traveled to a different planet.

However, that wasn't all either.

After he had completed his tasks for the day, A2 actually offered him refreshments in the form of ice tea and cookies – RE:Mordred's delicious lemon flavored ice tea and chocolate chip cookies made from Swiss chocolate. Since when did she start being so nice? Wasn't it normally the other way around? Usually, she was the one who would give him a list of soft drinks and afternoon snacks to bring to her. This was just not like her. He had been tempted by then to ask if the girl was alright but refrained. He had considered that perhaps she felt guilty for leaving him to take the exam by himself but didn't she say she has everything planned? This was going to be alright for him, right? She isn't just exploiting him…right?

He takes a turn and continues on down the hall.

Right after leaving her lab a little earlier, A2 had requested him to ask their professor about a homework problem that is due next week. Now, aside from the aforementioned strange events in his day, there is this. Why did she need this? Wasn't the girl already an expert on quantum mechanics? Why did she need help with a simple homework problem? And furthermore, why does he have to be the one to ask? Is it possible that she's not as smart as she seems? But if that were the case, then what about that lab she runs?

He stops before his professor's door. He had arrived but now there is this strange feeling in his stomach. Did he eat too much during lunch? He did exploit the girl a little by buying more food than he usually consumes…

Deciding to ignore the feeling for now since he's already here, he knocks on the door. "Professor Szydłowiecki…?"

"Yes? Come in," his professor answers from inside.

Kai proceeds to push the door open and step in.

His professor turns to him. "Ah, you're Kai, yes?"

Kai nods slightly. "Uh…Yeah."

Inside his stomach, a strange feeling like a need to burp or hiccup grows, causing him to struggle from making a face.

"How can I help you?" his professor asks.

"I…" Kai begins, suppressing his reaction to the feeling in his stomach. "I need some help with the fifth problem on the homework."

"Ah, No. 15, if I remember correctly, yes?" His professor ascertains.

Kai nods.

"Give me a minute to look at what the problem is," his professor gets up from his seat to get his version of the textbook from the shelf. Flipping through the pages until he got to the right page, he turns back to Kai. "Ah this problem! Don't worry, this isn't so difficult…"

Kai can feel his stomach churning up inside now…

"…You start off with the Hamiltonian they give you here…"

He covers his mouth, as his stomach forces whatever he ate earlier into his throat…

"…Recall that I gave you _S_ _x_ for spin-3/2 particles in class…"

He tries to keep it from coming out. Just not here…not now…

"…You multiply the state at time zero by _e_ raised to the _i_ _Ĥt/_ _ℏ_ , where the value of the Hamiltonian must be evaluated based on its eigenvalues…"

He can't do it. He can't hold it in…

"…then you…"

Blurrrgggh!

…Silence.

His professor stands in silence before him, gawking at him with a mix of shock and concern. The yucky muck that had come out of him had splashed loudly onto the floor and covered a noticeable portion of the office floor. Some of it had splashed onto his professor's shoes and some onto his own. The room now smells disgusting and as much as Kai would like to apologize for this, he couldn't. Whatever is left in his stomach just keeps trying to come out.

"Kai, are you alright?" his professor finally asks. He hands him a tissue. "Here,"

Kai accepts it and uses it to wipe and cover his mouth.

His professor then says, "Anyway, since you're sick you should go home and rest. Don't worry about the homework; there is still plenty of time."

Kai attempts to apologize, "I…"

However, his professor ushers him out the door.

"No, don't worry about it, I insist." His professor misinterprets his attempt to apologize. "I understand that your grade means very much to you but your health should come first. I will send you some hints by email, so don't worry about it."

"No, I mean the mess…" he starts but is interrupted by his urge to throw up again.

"It's okay, don't worry about it, I'll get someone to come clean it up for me later." He tells him.

And just like that, soon, Kai finds himself back in the hallway. He stands there for a moment, suppressing the sensation in his stomach. Now, for sure, his professor must hate him…or at least his guts.

'Well, he did say he'd send what I asked by email…' he notes mentally. A2 would be alright with that, right?

Still, he returns his attention to the feeling in his stomach. What was that? Food poisoning? Maybe those two servings of steak he had at dining hall were too undercooked? Or was something wrong with the salad? It could be that he simply ate too much. He _did_ accept A2's refreshments despite the fact that he didn't need to eat.

He stumbles down the hall, using the wall for support. With one hand, he wipes away the remnants of his rather awful ordeal in the office from his mouth. He takes the same turn as earlier down the hall. Before he realizes it, he finds himself face to face before A2.

She glances around both ways. Quickly and without warning, she pulls Kai into the adjacent women's bathroom, causing him to protest.

"What are you-" he begins, only to be interrupted again, this time by an eruption of pungent gas from his stomach, as though about to throw up again.

"Shh!" she shushes him. "Quiet. Don't draw any attention."

The door of the restroom closes behind them.

"Don't worry. No one is inside." She tells him. "I checked beforehand and have been camping outside since."

Kai now takes a look at her, very much perplexed by her actions. What in the world could she possibly be intending to do?

He takes a look at her attire. Rather than the white dress she usually wore, she is now clad in a typical shirt and flare legged pants, with her long, usually flowing hair pulled up using a baseball cap. Before he can ask her anything however, she continues dragging him, this time, to the extra large toilet stall for the disabled.

"Keep an ear out and a low voice if you must speak." A2 whispers. "Also, do me a favor and crouch on top of the toilet seat cover to avoid letting your feet show under the panels."

Kai nods and complies, but asks, "What in the world are you doing?"

"Continuing my plan to fix our grades." She replies simply.

Kai thinks for a moment. Continuing? When did she even start?

He asks, "What plan are you talking about?"

"My plan to get us both full scores." She answers, while digging through a backpack she brought with her.

Kai urges her to explain. "And that plan is?"

"We're going to sneak into Professor Szydłowiecki's office tonight." She answers.

Hearing that, Kai can feel his heart skip a beat.

Now, breaking into some random girl's room is one thing; the security around the dorms isn't all _that_ strict to begin with. However, breaking into their professor's office, is a completely different matter. Never mind that it is, in itself, a crime, but the risks of getting caught are much higher and it would arouse obvious academic suspicions if they are detected in any way, shape, or form. He objects the idea, telling her straightforwardly, "No."

Pausing, A2 turns from the contents of her bag to him. "Hm?"

"If you want me to break into his office with you, then forget it." Kai says firmly. "I'm not doing this."

"And why not?" she asks.

"A2, what if we get caught?" he asks her in a serious tone.

"We won't." she tells him. "Do you not trust in my abilities?"

"That's not the point." He tells her. "Besides, can't you just hack into the school's system again like you did before? That's much less risky, isn't it?"

"If I was merely going to take a look in their system, or to copy data, then yes." A2 answers. "However, only an idiot would hack in to change their grades from a zero to a full score; any instructor would be bound to notice that their worst student suddenly became one of the most brilliant."

"But you're skilled aren't you?" Kai points out. "I thought you said it'd be too hard and costly for them to track you."

"Hard does not mean impossible. Also, if the school allows even one or two people to get away with changing their marks, then the academic credibility of the institution would become compromised. The costs would then become worthwhile for maintaining the school's hard earned worldwide reputation as an elite univeristy." She argues firmly.

Kai remains silent, somewhat disappointed by her response.

She continues, "And that's not all. With the modern level of computer technology, nearly everything you do on the internet is ultimately traceable; it simply depends on the skill and patience of the one who is trying to catch you. What you proposed is especially easy. Just think from the school's IT department's perspective for a moment: Who would have the most incentive to go change a grade in the school's system from a zero to the highest possible mark?"

Kai didn't need more than a fraction of a second to answer that: it would be the student to which the grade belongs.

"From your expression I take it you realized the answer." A2 notes the look on his face. "Good."

Kai stays silent for a moment now. Is there really no other way than what A2 is planning? The passing mark for the class is at the 65% mark. Will he really have to either risk expulsion to recover this 20% of his grade or to accept a low to near failing grade for one of his four classes in his first semester here? His grandfather is bound to be unhappy with either and both options leads to a high chance of him having to either give up beyblading or his inheritance.

"So there's no way to hack in to change it without being caught…" he sums up in a low voice.

"Well, if it was simply a matter of traceability, Arthur, the quantum computer in my personal lab is capable of it doing a clean job. As of current, no computer system in the world possesses greater processing power and security." A2 tells him. "However, even that won't cover the human component of the issue here. The professor himself would still notice the dramatic change in score the next time he looks at it."

"And I suppose you must've ruled out the possibility of getting my exam re-graded…" Kai mutters.

"Yes, I did." A2 tells him bluntly. "It's the same problem. He will notice either way; it's human nature to notice the extremes and norms. The four most memorable numbers will be the highest, lowest, average, and any existent exceptions."

"So how do _you_ plan to change it without us getting caught or suspected?" Kai asks. If anything he felt he should at least hear her plan out.

"It's simple." A2 answers. "We change our answers tonight before he even begins grading."

Kai, in turn, inquires, "And you know he hasn't started grading yet…how?"

"I've had him for a different course before." She tells him. "He mentioned in a lecture once back then that with the exception of finals week, he never starts grading until about three days after a test due to a lack of interest in the mundane task."

"How do you know he didn't change from then? And what if he takes the exam papers home tonight?" Kai asks. If he is going to go along with this, he needs to know the details and the risks.

"It was only a semester ago. Besides, why would he bring home a stack of papers he doesn't plan to look at tonight?" A2 asks him back. She adds, "He would have to bring back the exam papers after grading to hand back to us anyway. It'd be more convenient to just do the grading in his office when he finally feels like it."

Kai then brings up, "And your plan to get us into his office tonight…?"

A2 smiles devilishly now. "You puked in his office just now, didn't you?"

Kai looks at her suspiciously now. She might have been down the hall during the time but why bring it up? What relevance does this have?

He nods slowly, waiting for her to go on.

Her smile widens. "Then you've already secured our way in."

...

The hallways of the physics department are quiet and lit in white. The windows in the hall are largely darkened save for a few lamps outside. Kai, in a wig, makeup and a janitor's disguise, walks down this hallway with an also disguised A2 and a wet mop, feeling a mix of alertness and disbelief. Despite that it has now been a while since she told him about her plan and how she had initiated it by herself, he still can't believe what he is about to do.

He recalls A2's explanation of her intended plan back in the stall in the restroom.

"…This building is cleaned on a weekly basis on Friday nights only." A2 began explaining her plan to him. "Since today is a Tuesday, it means after a certain hour, the place should be empty and no one should be around anymore. Since no club activities are ever held here, if anyone patrols the hall, you can be certain you'll be suspected of unauthorized presence and possibly intrusion unless you can identify yourself as a grad student working on a project here."

Kai had still not been sure what this had to do with him puking in their professor's office but A2 went on, "To clear that, I created a reason for someone other than a grad student to be here after the normal operational hours of the building."

"And that is?" Kai urged her on.

A2 smiled wide, "A request from the professor to faculty management to clean his office."

By then, the reason why A2 had been so kind to him today had started to click. "Then what happened in the office was…"

"Relax," A2 told him with a falsely innocent smile. "I only dissolved an emetic into your drink."

"An emetic?" Kai repeated. Whatever it is, it didn't sound good to him.

"Yes, it's a drug that induces vomit." A2 explained. "Don't worry, one use won't leave behind any long-term health problems. It even used to be popularly kept in the household in case of accidental poisoning until the FDA began to recommend against it."

Kai had not been happy to find out about this part. He did NOT appreciate A2 using him as a puppet in her plan without even telling him. And having him barf in their professor's office of all things…?

"You couldn't go and throw up in his office yourself?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Why me?" she retorted dully. "Since I did all the planning, you should at least contribute something."

Of course, Kai had been entirely dissatisfied by that arrangement but it was already done. To the very least, so far, A2's plan seems to be working pretty well. He continues walking down the hall with her.

Noticing his stiff look, A2 whispers to him, "Calm down. Act like this is normal."

Kai can't believe her. Act normal? What part of what they're doing is "normal"? If the janitor they knocked out wakes up and catches up with them or calls the police, they'll be completely screwed!

"What?" A2 tries to interpret the expression of irritation on his face.

Kai didn't want to say anything. A2 had already stated during the act that the inhalational anaesthetic and hypnotic she used on the janitor should be effective in keeping him unconscious for a few hours. To ease his worries even more, she even noted to him that since both substances are commonly used and sometimes in combination in medicine, it is also generally safe. But what if someone finds him and wakes him up before they are done? _Can_ they wake him up from the induced sleep? And if he does wake up, what then? Sure, the janitor can't identify them since he didn't see their faces, but he'd probably suspect he was drugged wouldn't he? After all, they had placed him inside the janitor's closet and who would fall asleep _there_ on a job?

A2 interrupts his thoughts, "The keys."

Kai snaps back to reality and realizes that they have arrived at their professor's office. He pulls out the ring of keys to the various rooms belonging to the physics department as requested and upon opening the door, both of them are greeted by a pungent smell that has permeated the room.

"Gross." A2 mutters, covering her nose and mouth.

Kai would have commented on that but decided not to. He follows A2 inside, flipping the lights on for her and careful to step around the mess on the floor. A2 eventually stops before the professor's desk where she begins searching through the drawers. Soon finding the exam papers, she goes through them all until she found his and a blank exam with no name. She then hands both to him.

"Remove the staple on the blank one." She tells him. "Be careful not to rip the pages."

He complies. Once done, A2 holds out her hand. Assuming she wants it back, he gives it back to her, which she accepts.

"I'll be right back to make a copy of this." A2 tells him as she leaves the room. She adds, "You should sit low behind the desk in case one of the grad students walk by."

He complies quietly as she closes the lights and the door. A few minutes pass and she returns, flipping the lights back on again.

"I'm back." She says calmly, walking around the desk to where he is. She kneels down beside him, carrying an identical copy of the exam in addition to the original. Grabbing the stapler from the desk surface, she re-staples the original carefully as well as the copy before putting the former back at the end of the pile. Pulling out a pen from the small bag she brought with her, she tells him, "Let's begin."

...

A small while soon passes. Kai, having been watching A2 this whole time, was surprised by the speed at which she was able to answer each question. While most people would probably need to do a gruesome amount of work to arrive at some of the final answers, he can't help but noticed that A2 did each problem or problem part – regardless of difficulty – in three, rather oddly ordered steps.

He noticed that for each question, she would always start by writing and boxing in the final answer. Then she would write the start of each key step, underlining each. Finally, she would fill in all of the steps in the middle, as though she were just decorating the exam. He wasn't sure if the other students were capable of this but most sure took longer than ten or fifteen minutes to complete the exam.

Soon finished, A2 turns to him. "Cross out whatever you wrote on your test and copy what I wrote. Be sure to either factor out or distribute some constants when you write the intermediate steps. Also, fill in a few extra steps with just arithmetic or trigonometry so that your paper won't look exactly like mine."

Kai nods, beginning to do just as she had instructed him. He begins working on the first problem while A2 sits back against the desk drawers on the floor to wait for him. He soon finishes and moves onto the second problem, and then the third. However, as he begins the fourth, a pair of footsteps sound in the hallway, approaching the office.

Hearing this, Kai freezes with fear. Did the janitor wake up?

He glances over to A2 who appears calm. Meanwhile, the footsteps grow steadily ever closer until they stop right outside the office door. Whoever the owner is had stopped walking and is now pacing around in somewhat odd steps.

"That's weird," A male voice mutters.

Kai is relieved to recognize the voice as that of their teaching assistant's for the class. He sighs quietly, 'The janitor didn't wake up…'

"I guess he must've asked somebody to come clean this mess up tonight." The guy sums up the scene to himself from the doorway. "Now where should I put the graded quizzes from last week…? He said to slide them under the door but there's that muck on the floor…"

Kai waits anxiously now for him to just put down the stack of papers somewhere and leave. Next to him, A2 quickly and quietly pulls out a handheld device, beginning to type something silently on the device's touchscreen interface.

At the front of the room, their TA begins to make his way inside, walking carefully around the dried vomit towards the desk.

Kai stiffens now. If their TA comes any closer, the two of them and the open drawer on their side of the desk would become visible. They'd be caught, to put it simply.

Kai then thinks. But isn't their TA just a grad student? Maybe he'd understand and will keep quiet about this. Or if he won't, can he maybe bribe the guy? Then again, when Voltaire finds out about the spent money, it could cause some problems for him. Maybe A2 can bribe him? She's also rich, isn't she? But what if she only has access to a small portion of her family's money?

He runs out of time however, as the TA's footsteps sound dangerously close. Kai now braces mentally for the worst.

However, before his fears can be realized, a familiar, thunderous thud is heard coming from the outside. As before, the noise causes a painful ringing in his ears. Recognizing the loudness of the sound and the sight of the machine outside the window, Kai no longer knows what he should do or be afraid of. Luckily for him, however, his TA must've felt the same since he stopped advancing towards the desk now.

"To all persons, within range of my voice," a familiar but loud voice sounds.

Kai, recognizing this voice, turns to A2 to find her sitting quietly and still. Her expression is calm and she seems to simply be nursing her ear drums.

The TA on the other side of the desk, however, nearly drops the papers he is holding and takes a step towards the window with his mouth gaping wide open. No longer paying attention to anything else, he peers outside in awe.

"In thirty seconds, a public display and demonstration of the capabilities of the machine LFP-01 Nymph, also known internationally by the public as 'Titan', will begin." A2's voice continues from the Nymph.

Kai cannot stop alternating his gaze between A2 and the machine outside now. From the fact that she is sitting right next to him, he is certain that the voice outside must be just a very high quality recording. But when did she arrange this? And isn't that machine supposed to be an industrial secret of some sort? Was it already set up somehow to launch here on its own?

The recording goes on, "Regardless of your affiliation, please feel welcomed to gather in the science courtyard for this presentation."

A2 quickly types something on her handheld device and shows it to Kai. It reads,

"Finish copying the last question so we can get out of here already."

Kai looks at her. _How_ will get they out? Are they literally just going to waltz out of the room behind their TA as if he's not there? Sure, her robot's managed to distract his attention, but isn't it also keeping him glued to the window _in_ the office?

The voice continues, "To remain safe, I advise strongly that all attending observers stand far away from the center of the courtyard. It is recommended to gather at the rim near the buildings."

"Man, I have to see this!" their TA exclaims excitedly. He runs out of the room, skipping past the muck at the front of the room now.

"…I repeat, to all attending observers, stand far away from the center of the courtyard. It is recommended to gather at the rim near the buildings."

Now that he's gone, A2 mutters to Kai, "Hurry up."

Complying, Kai nods and copies the answer to the final question just as he did the other three. Soon finished, he places everything back neatly before he and A2 leave and close the door behind them without cleaning up the dried vomit on the floor. They then return the cleaning supplies and the keys to the janitor's closet where they pull the real janitor out and make it look like he fainted in the middle of the hall where he had originally been knocked out.

...

Kai leaves the building with A2 and walks around the science courtyard with her, both no longer disguised, through the many spectators and reporters from the media who have shown up for the display. Of course, now no longer planning anything, A2 returns to her usual self and makes Kai carry all of the supplies she had brought along. Glancing up at the robot as they walk behind their still amazed and excited TA in the crowd, Kai is amazed by the robot's dance to amuse those who are watching. What amazes him even more however is that, somehow, another "A2", this one dressed normally, seems to be inside the open cockpit of the machine.

"It's a hologram." A2 mutters to him, noticing his amazement.

They continue to walk calmly through the crowd. The Nymph stops dancing and now some of the reporters seem to be trying to ask some questions.

"Miss Rosenstreim, are you related to the CEO of the company you work for?" one reporter asks.

"Yes, I am." The other A2 replies. "In fact, I am the president's younger half sister."

Kai turns to the real A2.

Noticing his expression, she whispers to him, "Keep walking, it's just an AI that I installed in the machine's interface to handle these questions."

Kai nods slowly to that. He is still not sure what he should be more amazed about: the fact that she is holding an AI automated press conference or the fact that she had this start in the middle of their rather questionable activities at their professor's office. Although he continues walking at the same speed as A2, he cannot help but keep his attention on the outdoors press conference that's going on right beside them.

"…Can you please tell us more about the development of the machine?"

"…How did you manage to create an engine that can propel such a heavy and bulky frame?"

"Wow, I can't believe someone from our school built something like this…"

"Yeah, I know! And only an undergrad…?"

"…Miss Rosenstreim, how much did your brother invest into this project…?"

...

Soon away from the crowds and the noise in the science courtyard, Kai and A2 turn for the residential communities. As they cross the road that divides the academic complexes and the dorms, a question forms in Kai's mind. Seeing as no one is around, he turns to A2 and addresses her, "A2,"

A2, as usual does not bother to turn to him.

"About the exam," he begins, as they reach the sidewalk. "Since you weren't there, wouldn't the professor find it strange he has an exam to grade from you?"

"If he took note of my absence and remembers when he starts grading, then naturally, yes." She replies.

Kai notices she seems not to have the slightest bit of concern for the issue that this brings in. He asks her, "Shouldn't you be concerned?"

"Why should I be?" A2 asks him back. "If he has an exam to grade, I doubt he will care much since he already knows where I belong in terms of ranking in the class. He has better things to do, you know."

She stops as the university's clock tower begins to ring, indicating it is midnight.

"Besides," she turns to him with a devious smirk. "Even if he remembers I wasn't there and gave a dam, he can't argue over recorded footage from the surveillance camera in the back of the room."

Kai is confused now. She wasn't there during the exam. How will she show up on footage?

"It's now past midnight," she notes. She then continues on walking back to her suite, "Arthur and RE:Mordred have probably started editing the stored footage from the exam for me now."

Kai stares after her for a moment. He just didn't know what to say. Ever since he stepped into that lab of hers, he had already seen the kind of technology that she dabbles in, but to see it in action like this, it dawns on him that this school is basically A2's backyard to do with as she pleases.

Nonetheless, he continues walking with her back to their respective dorms.


	14. Dispersed Hatred

### Dispersed Hatred

Kai walks down the hall to his final class of the day, quantum mechanics.

So far, his day has been nothing short of a stark contrast with the day before – mundane, ordinary, uneventful. This, however, does not seem to apply to the majority of students attending the university besides himself. Since the broadcasts attesting the Nymph's existence to the world the past weekend, it has become somewhat of a celebrity and a definite hype amongst scientists and engineers worldwide. Now, due to the sudden press conference held on campus the night before and the consequently revealed information surrounding it, it has taken his entire school by storm and because of it, A2, who had created it, is now practically the topic of every discussion amongst professors and students alike on campus.

He opens the door to his classroom and takes his usual seat in the corner. Taking a quick glance around, he notices that he had gotten there exceptionally early today and as such, is the only one there so far.

Of course, ever since the night before, he also hasn't seen A2. Before they parted last night though, he had asked her why the Nymph is suddenly being showcased the way it is. As usual, A2 was reluctant to give him much information, but she answered him anyway saying, "Since the Nymph was already sighted and photographed on Friday, we didn't see any reason to try to keep it contained any longer. The decision to show it off publicly was made by my father. The reason I was called back home was specifically to discuss in detail what to and not to tell the press."

Kai got that. There wasn't much to understand. However, something new had caught his attention today. Although generally impartial to the activities of those who have nothing to do with him, he had noticed a good deal of reporters wandering around campus when he was traveling between classes. Some were simply interviewing random students but others were clearly hoping to find and interview the witch of technology herself. This made him wonder how A2 is holding up. Surely, she will have trouble traveling between classes today with them running around.

His thoughts are interrupted as a group of three of his classmates walk in through the door for class.

"What's the big deal anyway?" a red headed girl in their group mouths annoyed as she and the other girl in their group approaches their seats.

"What do you mean 'what's the big deal?'" Shin, one of his classmates who had previously introduced himself to Kai converses with her as he sits down in his own seat. "That machine's only the coolest thing ever! I mean, just look at it. The size alone is amazing! And despite it being so big it can still move so fast and-"

"I get it. Shut up." the girl snaps.

"Come on, Dita," Shin tries to calm her down. "Aren't you amazed too?"

"What should I be amazed about?" the girl called Dita asks him back. "The part where that girl can just waltz around our class without ever trying and still do better? Or maybe I should be impressed that someone like _her_ chose to be here to watch us struggle for her own amusement."

The guy called Shin looks at his friend with some bewilderment on his expression now. The other girl near them remains passive. For a moment, all three refrain from speaking.

Shin breaks the silence. "I don't think she particularly enjoys seeing us suffer or anything."

Dita's glare however, intensifies upon hearing that.

Shin goes on, "I mean, come on, why would she enjoy something like that? It's not like we did something to make her dislike us."

"You mean to tell me you can't tell?" Dita asks him, her eyes blazing with disdain.

"Tell what?" Shin asks, clueless.

"Almost every lecture, she comes in and just plays games in the back of the room." She snaps. "It's obvious that she has no respect for the rest of us or how hard _we_ have to try to get a good grade. You saw that thing she made. That thing says it all. She already has the skills and finances to start off a career. She doesn't even need to be here and she doesn't need a degree either. I can't see any reason for her to be here besides to just fuck with us, screw up our test score distributions, and then sit back to congratulate herself!"

At that moment, A2 walks in.

Kai shifts his attention to her. Surprisingly, there are no reporters following her at all in the hall. Did she manage to avoid them?

A2 walks quietly to her usual seat one desk away from Kai to his left. As she does, Shin, who probably wanted to show Dita that she's wrong, calls out to her.

"Hey, A2!" he calls to her. "That machine you made was really cool! Why don't you come here and join us for a bit? There's still a good ten minutes until class-"

"NO!" Dita screams, getting up from her seat in objection.

The room is silent again. A2, turns partly to them, her gaze, wintry and analytical as usual.

"No…just no!" Dita protests. "I don't want someone like her anywhere near me!"

"Dita," The other girl who had been silent up until now finally speaks. "That's enough."

"What's enough is that I've had enough of being in the same class as her!" Dita retorts. "I'm sick of having someone in the class who always gets full scores on everything without even trying while I work my butt off and still struggle to maintain above the average. We never get any score curves because of her. If she comes over here, then I'm leaving. I don't want to pretend to be friends with a freak of nature who just mocks us from the back of the room."

The room is silent again. Shin, who had been the one to try to bridge the two girls, now sits unsure what to say next to either girl.

A2 turns away from them. Although faint, Kai can tell from A2's expression that what the other girl said had disturbed her.

After a moment more of silence, A2 turns to Kai and says in a voice barely above a whisper, "You don't have to come by the lab today."

With that, she turns back to the door and leaves.

Soon after that, the professor arrives and so does the rest of the class with the exception of A2. As expected, his unsuspecting professor has heard of the press conference that took place right outside his office and, much to Dita's dismay, spends a good five minutes talking excitedly about it and complaining that A2 is absent. When that had concluded, the subsequent hour of class goes by quickly and Kai soon finds himself free from class again.

With nothing scheduled after class and not in the mood to start his homework, Kai walks out of class wondering what to do for the rest of his day. Recalling that Michael had briefly mentioned on Sunday that that the beyblading club at their school is open twice a week Sundays and Wednesdays, he decides to take a walk over there.

...

Upon arrival at the clubroom in the gymnasium, Kai immediately notices that there's a match going on in the huge dish in the center. On one side of the dish is Michael and facing him off on the other side is Max. There are a bunch of spectators on the benches at the side.

Kai walks over to the railing where he was last time. Noticing Emily there, he joins her.

Emily takes note of him and greets him, "Hey, Kai. What's up?"

"Hn." Kai responds.

"I see someone is grumpy, as usual." Emily teases him, "You know, if you stay this way, you'll never find yourself a girlfriend."

Kai is annoyed by that last part but tries to ignore it to continue watching the match. In his mind however, he wonders if A2 ever thought that of him. He recalls that at one point on the past Saturday, A2 did say, "…The thought of having you by my side at my deathbed sends shivers down my spine, after all."

Was it because he was often grumpy around her and everyone else?

Down below in the dish, one of the club members jumps down from the benches and runs to the dish where he launches his blade in too. The match subsequently turns into a three way battle between Max, Michael, and the new guy.

Kai's thoughts drift back to the other events of that day. Even though A2 had been with him during most of yesterday, he never did find the opportunity to ask her what he had wanted to ask before.

Just why did she try to shield him back at the park?

He recalls how she had collapsed at the edge of the pond in the park that day. 'She was sick. Yet she tried to…'

A question interrupts that thought. Just what was wrong with her anyway? Thinking back to the Tuesday one week before, he remembers that she had collapsed in her room that evening too. The only difference was that, then, she seemed to have also suffered from a terrible nosebleed. Remembering that Emily had brought this up before, he addresses her, "Emily,"

Emily turns to him, surprised that he's actually in the mood to talk. "Yeah?"

"Do you know what kind of illness A2 has?" he asks.

"Huh?" Emily could not believe what she was hearing. She didn't think the sourpuss and lone wolf of Max's old team would actually ask about someone else's welfare and _that_ girl's welfare of all people's.

Hearing nothing, Kai turns to her, causing her to return to the question.

"Well…I don't really know." Emily answers him, still a little stunned by the question.

"So she didn't tell you either..." Kai concludes, turning away again.

"Well…no." Emily then adds, "I only found out she's sick because of that one time when she fainted while interning at the American PPB."

Interested, Kai turns back to Emily again.

"We took her to a hospital that time, but before the doctors could diagnose her, she snuck out." Emily explains, turning back to the match. "It caused a big ruckus for us back then but by the time we found her, she was fine again."

Kai waits for her to say more.

Emily continues, "Of course, Judy suspected that she might have lied about her health in the applications after that. Since it was an emergency, we ended up contacting her parents overseas about this and to our surprise, the chancellor of Germany himself stormed in to apologize on his daughter's behalf."

That last part surprised Kai. "Chancellor?"

"Yeah, she's the daughter of Anselm Rosenstreim, the current incumbent." Emily turns to him. "You didn't know?"

Kai cannot bring himself to answer her. He stares at her stunned by the information. Due to the last condition of his contract with A2, he never even had the thought of asking the girl about her family or private life. And to think that she's the daughter of a prominent politician…

Emily, noticing his reaction, comments, teasing him a little. "You sure seem to care a lot. Got the hots for her?"

Kai turns away. "No."

Emily doesn't seem to believe him, however.

"…Right." She says sarcastically. "You know, it's not like you to ask about something like this."

"I was just curious." Kai tells her.

Emily then asks, "Then why didn't you ask her yourself?"

Kai freezes, not knowing what to say. If he tells the truth, Emily's bound to make fun of him. But what else can he say?

"You know, she probably knows more than me. It's her body, you know." Emily adds.

"It's…complicated." Kai tells her.

"Oh?" Emily looks at him suspiciously.

In the dish below, Max and Michael team up, knocking the newcomer out. Mad about it, the guy complains but everyone just laughs.

Emily turns back to the match that has resumed between Max and Michael again. She decides to go on, "Astraea's family consists of herself, her father, and two half siblings. She's technically the family's illegitimate child."

Kai turns to her again.

"Her father was elected Chancellor shortly after taking her in. Rumor has it that the heroic story of how he found her in Romania dramatically increased his popularity during the election," she continues. "As for her half siblings, one of them, Elena Ehrenbaum, is the young widow of the former head of one of the world's largest and most successful financial groups. Shortly after her marriage, her husband died of a stroke following a traffic incident. Since he was childless and has no known relatives, she inherited all of his assets and shares by default. Due to her extravagant spendings, she's nicknamed the modern Marie Antoinette by the paparazzi."

Kai is surprised by how much Emily knows and continues to listen.

"Her other half sibling, Karl Rosenstreim, is the founder of the company Astral Skies and is its current CEO." Emily moves on. "They specialize in a number of things, from fighter jets to air carriers and space exploration. They even have a subsidiary airliner, a few hotels and a pet pharmaceutical company. In short, her entire family is rolling rich with money."

Kai asks, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"I thought you might be interested." She answers. "It's pretty much public info anyway. The paparazzi's already written all about it years ago. All I had to do was look it up after her dad came to pick her up from the PPB."

"I see." Kai turns back to the match.

While the name of her brother doesn't ring much of a bell to him, he recalls Voltaire complaining pretty consistently in the recent years of a company called Astral Skies. Although he himself did not dabble much in his grandfather's business, he does remember meeting representatives from that company a few times during mandatory social events that his grandfather made him attend.

Kai watches as the match below ends. Max had won, though barely. Not in the mood for greetings or small talk, Kai leaves the clubroom.

...

Almost aimlessly, Kai wanders the expanse of the university campus. Despite his time here so far, he still hasn't found a perfect place to be alone at. There just always seem to be students. The only exception seems to be late at night.

Kai continues to walk through the residential community. He then remembers: isn't the forest northwest of campus always quiet?

He stops. But that place is private property, isn't it? Would A2 mind him hanging out there? Then again, it's not like she actually uses the land on top. Deciding to head there so that he can at least practice blading in peace, he continues walking again, this time in a different direction.

Eventually, he passes a relatively quiet spot. Looking around, he wonders if he really needs to use the northwest forest at all. After all, why not just spend his time here?

His thoughts are interrupted, however, when he notices a faint sob. Turning to the direction from which it came, he notices someone familiar.

'Linnea…?' he recognizes her.

He recalls that the girl had been absent today from their medieval history discussion. Deciding to approach the sobbing girl, he walks over to her calmly.

Noticing him approach, Linnea looks up at him with a rather miserable expression.

Seeing as the girl's clearly not okay, Kai asks, "What's wrong?"

Linnea continues to sob but holds up what appears to be a test paper to him. Kai accepts it and takes a quick glance at it. The test seems be from an introductory level physics class. Looking at the score, it would appear Linnea failed rather badly.

"When…when the professor showed the test score distribution…my score was…was at the lowest end of it." Linnea tries to tell him while sobbing.

"Did you study?" Kai asks simply. He did feel bad for her, but if she didn't study at all, then this, would be no wonder.

Linnea nods, taking a tissue from a small pack to blow her nose with. "I studied really hard for it."

Kai takes another look at the exam. The very sad part about this is that some of the exam questions that she got wrong, even _he_ knows the answer to.

He asks, "When you studied, did you understand what you were studying?"

Linnea stares at the ground now. "Some of it…I didn't get any of the calculus parts though. And I didn't know what to do with some of the things they gave in the homework and practice questions…"

"Calculus?" Kai repeats. He vaguely remembers A2 had mentioned in one of her packets at one point that even on the introductory level, calculus is essential for understanding where the equations and derivations are coming from in physics. He also recalls that in the same packet, she had insulted the fact that an introductory physics course not requiring calculus is actually offered. He then asks, "Are you taking the calc-based physics course?"

Linnea nods. "Some of the upper classmen I spoke to said that it would be easier since I would learn where things come from instead of just memorizing everything."

Kai flinches mentally for a moment at that. The girl has no talents whatsoever in math. What the upperclassmen said applies only to people with at least a decent understanding of mathematics and at least a basic calculus background.

He sighs. 'Well, nothing can be done about that now. It's not like she can transfer out of the class…'

He takes another look at her exam paper. Recalling that A2 mentioned briefly at the lab yesterday that she will be writing up the physics packets for him soon now that he's finished the math ones, he wonders if she would mind having one more student. As much as she seemed really reluctant to tutor him in the first place, she did spend a good deal of time writing up packets for him and it would be hard to believe that she truly hates teaching _that_ much…

Deciding he might as well see if this might work for Linnea, he asks her, "Do you…want someone to tutor you?"

Linnea turns to him. "Would you do that? I already maxed out the number of tutors I can have for two other classes this semester…so…"

"Well…no, I'm not the one who will be tutoring you." Kai tells her.

Linnea reacts with a bit of disappointment.

Kai then says, "It's just…the girl who picked us up from the junkyard. She might be able to help you."

"That's…the girl who made the giant machine, right?" Linnea mouths, amazed by the idea of being tutored by someone like that. She asks, "Would she really help me?"

Kai looks at her hopeful face for a moment.

"Please? If I get bad grades, I won't be able to make it to medical school here." She begs him.

Kai, feeling bad for her, sighs. Pulling out his phone, he tells her, "Let me ask her."

Linnea nods hopefully.

Kai quickly scrolls to A2's contact information on his phone and calls her.

...

Elsewhere, in a room full of bookshelves, a ringtone sounds. A2, getting off the plain table on which she had been resting her head on in the school's library, pulls out her phone to see that Kai is calling her. She wonders what it can be for and is about to answer the call when some noises sway her from doing so.

Behind one of the shelves near her, two people unknown to her seem to be making some rather raunchy noises while making out.

"Raphael…" a female voice murmurs. "More gently…"

"Shh!" the guy shushes her. "I'll be as gentle as I can, okay, Sera?"

A2 turns her attention back to her phone. Not wanting to answer a call when there are noises like _this_ right behind her, she presses "ignore". Whatever Kai wants can probably wait. After all, it's not like they're in the middle of an exam. And besides, what are the odds of him getting mugged again so soon after the last _two_ incidents?

She gets up quietly and leaves to get away from the pair in the back behind the shelves.

"So much for peace and quiet at the top floor of the library…" she mutters to herself, annoyed. She could've either gone to the lab or to her room if it weren't for those annoying reporters hanging around campus…

...

Kai ends the call. It would seem whatever A2 was up to, she was too busy to pick up. He turns over to Linnea who still appears hopeful.

"I think A2's busy right now." He tells her. "I'll ask her for you when I see her later."

"Oh…okay." She nods. The fact that there's at least hope for her made her stop crying. She smoothes out her clothes and gets up from the bench on which she was sitting. Walking a little closer to Kai, she thanks him, "Thanks a lot."

"Don't thank me yet." Kai tells her. "I don't know if she'll agree to do this or not."

Linnea shakes her head. "I think she will. She rescued us when we needed help, didn't she?"

Kai looks at her astonished by her optimistic reasoning.

"So I think she'll help again if she can." Linnea concludes with a smile.

Kai nods faintly. Now, he might really have to make sure A2 agrees to do this. After all, if she refuses, Linnea could get very upset. For some reason, he didn't want her to hate him…

...

Meanwhile, a tall, blond woman walks down a sterile hallway filled with nurses, doctors and patients. Her flamboyant clothing stands out greatly in the white lit space, earning her many stares and looks from those she passes. She eventually stops at a room and enters, her bodyguards following closely behind her. As she enters the room, a young woman with dirty blond hair inside turns to her and greets her.

"Ms. Ehrenbaum," she greets the woman entering.

The door closes behind the woman as she steps inside. She remains where she is however, as though disgusted by the idea of going any closer to the patient. Nonetheless, she returns the greeting. "I see you're doing better, Milena."

"Yes," Milena responds. "It's thanks to you that I can get treatment. The doctor says that the wound on my leg should heal in about a week or two."

"And your mother's condition?" the woman by the surname Ehrenbaum asks.

"She's gradually getting better." Milena responds. "Again, I can't thank you enough for paying for all of our bills and even my college tuition."

"You're very welcome." The woman responds. "Now, do you have what I asked for?"

Milena nods and takes out a small diary. She hands it to one of the woman's bodyguards, who in turn, passes it to the woman.

The woman accepts the small item before asking, "By the way, you were following that girl around on Friday, were you not?"

Milena responds, "Yes, I was."

"Tell me," the woman begins. "What happened that day?"

"I was following her, but then I stepped on a branch and she noticed me." She answers.

"I see." The woman responds.

"I had my face covered though and I ran as fast as I could." Milena continues. "I don't think she was able to identify me."

"So she has no idea why that _thing_ launched the Nymph…" The woman mouths.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Milena asks, not having heard that last line.

"Nevermind." The woman tells her. She turns to go. "Feel better."

Milena smiles. "Thank you, and thank you very much for everything you've done for me and my family."

...

In another part of the world, a young man clad in a hoodie and loose jeans walks down the darkened streets of a quiet town. All around him are stores but most of them are closed at this hour. He stops at the one shop that's open and steps inside. Immediately, the bartender greets him.

"Salut, Laurentiu." the bartender says fondly to the familiar, entering customer.

"Salut." The young man greets him back. He then asks for a serving of beer, "O bere te rog."

The bartender asks him if the usual kind is fine, "Ca de obicei?"

"Da." The young man replies affirmatively.

The bartender turns around to prepare the beer for him. In the meantime, the young man turns to the small television that's on behind the counter. Spotting something on the news broadcast, he asks the man behind the counter to turn up the volume. "Ai putea, te rog, sa dai volumul la televizor mai tare?"

"Da, un moment." The bartender responds, complying.

The news shows a clip of a titanic machine dancing amidst some university buildings. A closeup of the pilot is then shown as the reporter says, "…Noaptea trecută, inginerul care a creat mașinaria gigantică ce a fost zărită vineri a ținut o prezentare publică a ei în curtea…"

"Ah, acea mașinarie? Îi incredibilă așa-i?" the bartender comments, showing his enthusiasm.

His customer, however, appears less amazed, but more in shock. He stares at the girl shown on the screen, an expression of rage building on his countenance.

A single name escapes his lips, "A2…"


	15. Dear Emotions

### Dear Emotions

Kai watches as A2's usually cold and bored expression morphs into one of slight annoyance.

To some extent, even before he opened his mouth to ask, he knew this was coming. After all, it wasn't as though she was enthusiastic about having _him_ as her student in the first place, let alone a second person to teach.

"No way." She spells out for him. "Why should I waste my time helping yet another incompetent person with their grades? I get no notable benefits off doing this."

She then turns away from him mumbling, "…Passing is easy on the introductory level anyway. I'm sure that friend of yours will do just fine if they really cared that badly."

Kai recalls Linnea's hopeful expression now. It would seem he will have to tell the girl the next time he sees her that A2 declined to help her.

Still, he feels bad for her. Maybe he can tutor her himself after he learns the material from A2? Or maybe there is a way to bargain A2 into doing this. She did mention benefits from doing this and he really does want to help; those tearful eyes and that miserable expression he saw on Wednesday just begged him to!

No, off the top of his head, there really isn't any way he can bargain with A2 over this. Their contract is practically set in stone and he doesn't know of anything else that's important to her. Using her lab against her seems to be too extreme for something like this and he'd feel awful about it anyway; A2 _is_ technically both his and Linnea's savior, regardless of if or not she made him "repay" her for the deed afterwards.

He turns his attention back to A2 who is now studying his expression from her seat on her couch. The day before yesterday, after the incident in class with the girl called Dita, A2 had essentially disappeared off after telling him not to show up at her lab for the day. The following day, right when he was about to report for work at her lab, he received another message from her to not go to the lab for a few days. After noticing her absence from quantum mechanics lecture again today, he decided he would pay her a visit once class ended to ask about this before he forgets. But of course, somewhere in the back of his mind, he already knew she'd refuse…

"Say," A2 begins, disrupting Kai from his train of thought.

Kai responds to her with a curious look as to what she might possibly want after refusing to help.

"That friend of yours," she indicates back to his request. "Is it that girl you're dating?"

Kai looks at her now with an expression of utter confusion. "…What?"

"The albino one that was with you last Friday," A2 clarifies, turning away again. "I believe you said her name was 'Linnea'."

Kai notes a strange expression on her face that he's never seen on her before but answers, "Yeah, it's her, but we're not dating."

A2 turns back to him, a little surprised for some reason. "You're not? I thought you were just being shy the other day when I teased you…"

Kai raises an eyebrow. Recalling that she had joked about this too that Friday, he adds a question, "Where are you getting the idea from?"

A2 turns from him to the window, "I thought you were there with her for that clinic…"

"Clinic…?" Kai repeats, blinking.

A2 turns back to him, with a somewhat puzzled look on her face. "The one that gives free and anonymous testing for STDs and pregnancy. That's the only reason any student from the school ever goes near that neighborhood since it's notorious for its incidence rates of violent crimes."

Now it clicks. Since he never explained why he ended up there with Linnea to her, she probably thought that he slept with the girl and was accompanying her for…

"No…I was not…We were not-" Kai begins only to be cut off.

"You don't have to explain it to me." A2 tells him, turning away again. "It's not my business and I'd rather not hear any unnecessary details."

Kai wonders, 'Just what kind of impression does she have of me…?'

"What's her last name, though?" A2 asks, calling back his attention. She continues staring outside her living room window, however.

"Laine…If I remember correctly." He answers. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." A2 replies, counting the number of ants crawling in a line outside her living room window. A few moments later, after the ants have crawled far enough and disappeared from view, she adds another question. "Do you know where she's from?"

Kai hesitates before answering, wondering why A2 cares about this, but ultimately, seeing no harm in telling her, he answers her question, "Finland."

A2 remains silent as she watches a lone ant crawl after its brethren. After it disappears too, she gets up from the couch and begins walking towards her door. Confused, Kai follows after her as she puts her shoes on.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"To your suite." She answers simply, unlocking the door now.

"What!?" Kai exclaims as she leaves the suite. He follows after her, "Why are you going to my place?"

"You want me to tutor that girl, right?" A2 ascertains with him while continuing to walk down the hall to the stairs.

"At my suite?" Kai asks her astounded as he continues to follow after her. He didn't say anything about that part when he asked her to tutor earlier. That aside, he's not even sure if anyone from his suite is using the living room today. Either way, he should probably contact Linnea to inform her and to possibly check if she's free at all at this time…

...

Elsewhere, where it is already evening, A2's older half sister, Elena, sits in a bathrobe on a large, comfortable couch. The room around her appears large and elaborately designed. While the furniture in the room seems scarce for the amount of space taken up, all that is present in the room appears to have been crafted by master craftsmen and gave the room a nearly regal feel. She reads through a small diary intensely as she dries her hair on a fluffy, white towel. A cold smile soon appears on her lips and she rings a nearby bell.

A middle aged man in a tailcoat soon arrives and greets her, "How may I serve you, Madame?"

Elena beckons her butler to come closer to her and holds out the diary to him once he is close enough. She then instructs him, "Send someone to Romania and have them locate the boy called 'Laurentiu Ardeleanu'. You will find the details on him in this diary. When you've found him, I'd like you to make arrangements for me to meet this young man."

The butler, accepting the small item offered by his mistress, complies, "Yes, Madame."

Elena then dismisses him from her presence, "You may go."

The butler bows slightly and takes his leave.

With the butler gone, Elena gets up and proceeds to one of her wardrobes where she begins picking through her evening gowns.

...

Kai sighs mentally as he approaches his door and a silent but eager A2. Not that he has any idea why she's so eager about coming over to his place of course, since she essentially remained silent the entire way here. A2 moves out of his way to allow him to open his door. He unlocks it and immediately, the two of them are greeted by sounds of chatter and noises from a gaming console.

'Guess the living room's taken…' he notes the presence of his suitemates and their guests.

He turns to A2 to see what her plans are now. Surely she will have to select another place to tutor at now, right?

A2, on the other hand takes only one glance at his living room and then paid it no mind, heading instead to his room.

"Hey Kai, wanna join us? We ordered pizza in case you wanna have some." One of his suitemates shouts out to him over the noise the other guys are making.

"No, thanks," he replies briefly, turning his attention back to his own guest who is looking at him and poking at his doorknob as a way of indicating to him to go open it for her.

He makes his way to his room and unlocks the door for her but watches what she will do next. A little suspicious, he notes the possibility that she might be here for her necklace but is surprised when she walks right out of the room after a brief glance, heading instead to his kitchen.

Once there, she immediately opens up his fridge and asks him, "Which section is yours?"

Kai raises an eyebrow but indicates to her the section in which he keeps his food.

A2 then immediately frowns. "You have nearly nothing in here."

"That's because it's the end of the week and I need to go grocery shopping soon." He tells her as she closes his fridge door. If she wanted junk food and sugary refreshments, he sure wouldn't have any for her even on other days of the week anyway.

He watches her as she turns to his freezer. Pulling out a pack of meat, she asks him, "Yours?"

Kai nods, not really sure why she pulled it out when there were food items in there that surely suited her tastes in food better.

She then hands it to him, "As payment for tutoring your friend, you will make this for me. All of it."

Kai looks at her now and then to the meat and back. Was _this_ why she wanted to come over? Food? Of all things?

Of course, knowing A2, she might just change her mind about tutoring if he refuses this. He snatches the meat from her and complies, "Fine, but let it thaw."

A2 nods and then moves onto his pantry. Pulling out a box of cereal, she dangles it before him, "Also yours?"

Kai is surprised she pulled out something belonging to him again but nods. He watches as she proceeds to one of the cabinets where she pulls out a large clean bowl. She empties the contents of the cereal box into it, much to Kai's dismay. He had intended to have that for breakfast the next morning; likewise, the meat was for tonight's dinner. He then watches as she pulls out a can of whipped cream from his fridge door. Since this time it wasn't his, he attempts to stop her but she heads into his living room.

Following her there, he discovers her in the center of the living room dangling the can before her and asking, "Who's is this?"

Kai's suitemates effectively stop in their activities due to the fact that a stranger just came up to them holding a can of whipped cream. One of them breaks the awkward silence and answers her, "It's mine, but you can use it if you want…"

Hearing that, A2 promptly returns to the kitchen.

Kai follows her but wonders how she knew it wasn't his since the refrigerator door isn't divided up like the shelves in the fridge and the freezer. Before he can ask or wonder any further, a familiar ringtone from his pocket disrupts his thoughts.

He flips out his phone and, upon seeing the caller ID, he answers the call, "Hey, are you here?"

Linnea's voice responds on the other end of the line, "Yeah, I think so. I think I'm right outside in the front."

Glancing back at A2 one more time and seeing her happily sculpting some blob on top of the cereal with the whipped cream, he tells Linnea, "I'll be right out."

He hangs up and taps A2 on the shoulder.

She turns to him.

"Listen, I gotta get the door for Linnea. Do me a favor and go wait in my room." He tells her before heading off to the door. Then, something hits him and he returns to A2 as she brings her bowl of whipped cream covered cereal out of the kitchen. To be safe, he amends his previous instructions, "And don't take anymore food from the kitchen while I'm gone."

A2 makes a face at him as he leaves but continues on her way to his room.

...

A while soon passes.

After introducing Linnea and A2 to one another more formally, Kai cannot help but notice the two's rather careful interactions with one another. Linnea has pretty much kept to just asking questions that pertained to the field of study she needed help with and A2 on the other hand spent more time carving an ancient Greek temple out of the blob of whipped cream on her cereal than anything else. Linnea was nonetheless impressed with it and in all honesty, so was he.

Outside, the sun begins to turn orange as it descends lower and lower into the horizon. Despite the slowly changing colors outside, Linnea and A2 remain at their spots on his bedroom floor fully focused on their activities while Kai watches them from his place by wall.

Having already spent a few hours on basic differentiation, integration, and kinematics and seemingly getting it, Linnea takes a deep breath.

She makes a request to A2, "Uhm, is it okay if we stop for today?"

A2 nods, finishing the last, juicy piece of meat on her plate.

"Thank you very much, still." Linnea thanks her for her effort. "When I went to my professor's and my TA's office hours, they didn't quite explain it very well and so I'm really glad that you're helping me with this."

A2 nods again.

"Uhm…" Linnea starts but hesitates.

Kai notes her rather obvious attempt to continue her conversation with A2. It would seem the girl is interested in being friends with A2. Of course, knowing A2, he doubts Linnea's chances of success. He watches as A2 moves on from the remnants of the meat plate to the whipped cream sculpture and cereal.

Linnea continues, "Tonight...by any chance...by any chance, are you free?"

A2 stops eating for a moment. Some whipped cream remains around her lips and cheek.

"I was wondering…if you might… if you might want to hang out with me at club." Linnea tries to continue further. "You see, I'm part of the anime club and well, I'd love it if you'd come by. It's only if you like anime though…If not, then it's okay…"

After that, Kai can see Linnea bracing mentally for A2's response. Kai thinks back to the times where he would glance over at A2's screen at the lab or in class. Other than gaming, she doesn't seem to be interested in much else. He turns to A2 for her response.

"Sure. I don't watch anime anymore though." A2 tells her. "Also, I will neither join the club nor participate in any activities. Only be there. That fine?"

Linnea nods happily. She then turns to Kai, "Oh and Kai, you can come by too! If you want to, that is…"

Kai responds, "I can't. Thanks to a certain someone, I need to go replenish my food supply early."

"Have fun." A2 immediately responds with a smirk.

Kai briefly glares back at her for that one, but quickly brushes it off.

"Oh…that's okay, I guess." Linnea says, a little disappointed by his decline.

Kai then turns to A2, "Just so you know, if it's food you want at the club, they might not have any for you."

A2 turns away from him, pretty much ignoring him.

"Oh, don't worry, if she gets hungry, I can treat her. The snackbars at some dining halls are open really late on Friday and Saturday nights." Linnea says with a bright smile.

Kai turns to her, then back to A2 who has gone back to nibbling cream from the cereal bowl. He wonders if it ever crossed Linnea's mind that A2 has more than enough money to feed herself if she really wanted food. Still, to the very least, he trusts A2 not to take advantage of Linnea. Or at least, that's what he hopes.

He turns to the digital clock in his room.

4:45 p.m.

If he wants to go grocery shopping today, now would actually be his last chance since the university operated busses to where he needs to go stop running by six. He turns back to the two girls in his room, "Hey, listen. I have a bus to catch so you two will have to leave. While I don't mind you two staying here that much, there's something important here that I can't have a certain someone steal while I'm gone."

A2 makes a disappointed face at him, "I'm not as low as you."

Grumpily, Kai asserts, "Either way, you heard me. Just come back here next time _when I'm here_."

Finishing off her cereal and whipped cream, A2 places the bowl down on his floor and gets up. Without saying another word to him, she walks past him and out of the room, heading to the suite's door. Linnea, somewhat confused by what's going on, follows after her, waving goodbye to Kai.

Kai sighs, partly relieved that his guests have left, and partly worried for Linnea. Glancing back at the clock and realizing the time, he leaves the room himself.

...

Elegant orchestral music plays faintly from the inside of a seaside villa. Elena, wearing a purple evening gown, exits the lavishly lit building and makes her way quietly to the driveway where many cars are parked. There she is briefly greeted by her chauffeur who then opens the car door to let her into the luxurious vehicle. Without another word, the driver himself takes his seat and pulls out of the drive way.

Soon arriving at another extravagant residence, Elena steps out of the vehicle and ascends the steps up to the front door of the building. Her butler, having been awaiting her return, opens the door for her and greets her.

"Welcome back, Madame." He says.

Elena turns to him, "Have you carried out the task I gave you?"

"My lady, I must apologize." He replies.

Elena furrows her brow.

Her servant continues, "As I was about to carry out the order you gave me, I was stopped."

"And who was it that stopped you?" she asks, angered.

An authoritative voice from a nearby opening doorway replies to her question, "I stopped him from carrying out that task."

Elena turns in the direction of the speaker while her butler steps aside to avoid obstructing her view of the voice's source. At the sight of the towering, aging man appearing from behind the doors to one of the rooms, Elena stares, stunned by his presence.

"Father?" she greets him, surprised.

Her father goes on, "I know of your intentions, but now is not the time."

Elena remains speechless as he begins approaching her.

"If you still wish to see our plan carried out, you will set aside that grudge for a later time." The man holds out an envelope for his daughter, "For now, I have a task for you."

Puzzled, Elena accepts the envelope.

...

A dramatic animated scene is projected from a high quality projector and onto a white screen. The audience is largely silent and the room is dark. A few male characters on the screen fight an epic battle against one another while other characters are juxtaposed, making known their philosophical viewpoints as the battle ensues. As the protagonist, Axel, begins to lose, a pink haired female fairy named Euterpe uses the last of her power to cast a spell on his enemy, a deranged god-like king. The main character makes an emotional and noble speech and then charges straight towards his enemy. More flashy battle moves are shown from both fighters until finally, after a dramatic victory, an epilogue explaining the fairy's sacrifice and death and the story's aftermath is shown.

In one of the backmost seats in the audience, Linnea cries a few tears for the deceased fairy in the anime. Next to her, her roommate Sera tries to comfort her while A2, sitting on Linnea's other side, snacks apathetically on buttered popcorn.

"I wish Euterpe didn't have to die…" Linnea comments.

"Well, she kind of had to…" Sera responds to the comment. "At least in the end she was one of the good guys and made up for her mistakes."

"I feel bad for Axel though…" Linnea voices her opinion. "He loved her so much…"

"Well…even so…" Sera pats her on the head. She then adds, "At least now their world is peaceful?"

Beside them, A2 continues to snack on her popcorn like nothing happened at all. Of course, in reality, there really wasn't anything happening at all; the story from the anime was made up, after all.

Linnea turns to the strawberry blonde beside her. "Uhm…did you like it?"

"It was okay." She replies with her mouth full of popcorn to the more petite girl's question.

"Oh…" Linnea responds, slightly disappointed by the fact that she could not impress her new friend.

Her roommate turns to her, "Hey, A2, right?"

A2 glances over at her. Recalling the familiar voice from the other day in the library and the lewd noises she had to endure, she turns away.

Sera reacts with surprise to her reaction, but goes on anyway, "You're the girl who made that giant robot that was on the news, right? Astraea Rosenstreim?"

A2 nods lightly. Some of the other club members who are within earshot turn to them upon hearing that, causing A2 to turn away even more.

"Wow, I'm so impressed." Sera comments over Linnea, who, despite sitting between them, has become a spectator in their conversation. She then asks, "You're in your fifth year here now, right? How come you haven't graduated yet? Oh, and how come you didn't come by the club until now if you like anime?"

A2, noticing the gathering attention centered on herself, stays silent, making an annoyed face.

Sera would have pushed her to answer the question more, but her phone rings, causing her to check it instead. Recognizing the caller ID, she excuses herself from their conversation and answers it.

Linnea glances between them and then takes note of the attention they are getting from the other cliques in the club. A moment later, Sera hangs up with a bright smile. She turns back to her friends, "Hey guys, I gotta go."

"Oh, okay." Linnea responds.

"You take care tonight, okay?" she tells Linnea as she climbs over her seat to reach the exit more quickly. She adds, "My boyfriend's picking me up to spend some time together with me so I won't be back until tomorrow."

Linnea nods innocently.

Once Sera has left, A2 gets up. She mouths to Linnea, "I will go too. Thanks to your friend back there, I'm no longer comfortable here."

Linnea, feeling a little bad for the attention that her roommate had attracted towards A2, gets up to follow her. "Wait for me, please!"

...

Linnea catches up with the departing A2 outside the room. A2, no longer being stared or gawked at, stops to let Linnea catch up more easily.

Linnea apologizes, "Sorry about that…"

A2 nods in acknowledgement but turns to continue on her way. Linnea walks with her shyly.

"Uhm…I hope the anime episode didn't confuse you too much." She says to the taller girl. "I know it can be if you didn't see the previous episodes. The club's been showing this anime for a while since it's really popular both with the club members and in Japan."

A2 responds simply, "It's fine. The premise was obvious and all the flashbacks and speeches in this one episode gave me a pretty good idea what happened before it."

"Oh…" Linnea then adds, "If you liked it, you can find the other episodes online. There are many websites that allows you to stream it."

"I know." A2 responds.

For a small while, the two walk together in silence out of the building. Upon exiting, Linnea tries to get A2's attention again.

"Uhm…I know this might be a nosy question, but…" she starts.

A2 stops and turns to her.

"Are you…close…to Kai?" she asks.

A2 replies, "No."

"Oh." Linnea then asks, "I just thought that for a moment while you were tutoring me earlier since you two looked like you were close sometimes…"

"We're not." A2 then adds simply, "We're merely business partners with a contract to fulfill."

"Oh, I see." Linnea responds, though somewhat dazed by that last part. She would have asked something else but seems to lack the courage to ask.

"Why do you ask?" A2 inquires.

Linnea hesitates to answer for a moment but then says, "Well, I was just curious."

"And?" A2 urges her on.

"And…well…I was afraid for a moment that…that maybe you were… Kai's… girlfriend." She admits honestly with much courage.

"I thought that was you." A2 states bluntly.

Linnea turns pink from hearing that. She franticly denies it, "Oh, no! I'm not anyone close to him at all! I'm just someone in his class…"

"I get it." A2 stops her from freaking out.

Linnea falls silent again. A few moments later, she confesses with a blush and her eyes cast downwards, "I do like him a little though…"

This line seems to somewhat affect A2, but she says nothing of it. Curious what the other girl's reaction was to her confession, Linnea looks up at the strawberry blonde.

Noticing, A2 tells her, "If you like him, you should tell him. He seems to care about you."

With that, Linnea watches as A2 walks away from her. A warm, shy smile appears on her features in response to the encouragement that A2 gave her.

...

Kai steps off the bus with some bags of groceries in hand. Knowing that A2 will be coming over more now for Linnea's tutoring sessions, he bought a little bit of extra food to avoid a repeat of this afternoon. Besides, even if A2 chooses a different location next time, it's not like it would go to waste. He could eat it himself, after all. He heads off in the direction of his suite.

Along the way, he recalls a similar trip back to his suite six days ago when A2 had made him "repay" her for saving him and Linnea. Recalling the events of that day, the memory of her attempting to shield him from harm despite her own then helpless state returns to him. Realizing that he had been neglecting to ask about this for quite some time now, he decides he will ask her about this for sure the next time he sees her.

He soon nears his residential community. As he does, he recognizes A2 not too far from him heading to her own suite. He wonders if the anime club thing that she was going to go to with Linnea has already ended but shrugs it off, deciding that he should choose now to ask her what he wants to know. He hastens his movements a little to catch up to her.

However, as he nears her and catches her attention, A2 dashes swiftly away from him.

Seeing that, Kai stops in his tracks. 'What the…?'

For the life of him, he could not understand why A2 would run away from him. Did he do something to upset her? Why did she run away?

'Why…?'


	16. Contractual Obligation

### Contractual Obligation

Kai sits quietly in the back corner of the classroom as usual. Despite the fact that the class he is currently in is a major required class, he cannot quite bring himself to pay attention to his professor. By now, nearly a week has passed since he last interacted in person with A2. During this time, it was as though the girl was purposely avoiding him.

So far this week, of the four required sessions for the course they attend together, two lectures and one discussion had already transpired. Of these class sessions, A2 came for only two of them – Monday, when the first exam was being handed back and Tuesday, for the weekly quiz. Of course, as expected, since A2 was actually absent from the test, the professor commented that he could not recall A2 being present at the exam. However, since the professor had already checked the unknowingly spoofed video footage to confirm if or not some kind of academic dishonesty had occurred, A2's plan to use the camera in the front of the classroom to disprove her absence worked surprisingly well. This is all well and good for Kai, but both times that A2 had come to class, she sat far away from him in random places in the classroom rather than at her usual spot one seat away from him. He found this strange.

A2's new seating pattern isn't the only thing bugging him, however. In fact, he couldn't care less where she sat if this was all that deviated from her usual behavior around him. There were several other things too.

So far, whenever she had a new packet ready for him, she would tell him to pick it up from her suite in person. This time however, she simply attached it to a blank email and sent it to him. The packet was no less detailed than the previous ones and it was obvious that if he wants a paper copy, he can print it out himself, but her lack of words made it feel strangely cold.

Moreover, after she had ran from him last Friday, she had left him a text message telling him that he was relieved of his lab duties indefinitely. What was up with that? She normally worked him like a slave in that lab and stressed that the third condition in their contract requires him to do her favors as long as it is within certain guidelines.

Then, there's her tutoring sessions with Linnea. According to Linnea, A2 has been tutoring her at the library all this time and has been doing so pretty regularly. This isn't so bad for Kai since he won't have to worry about feeding her and there's nothing strange about the location. What _is_ strange however, is the hours she chose. Linnea had pretty much reported hours in which Kai always had class.

This was the part that made Kai wonder if something was going on with A2 in regards to him. He could accept that maybe A2 just felt bored and wanted to switch up seats or got lazy and just wants to send a packet over the internet instead. Hell, maybe there's nothing that she needs him to do at the lab either. That would be all well and good, really. However, the fact that she's choosing to meet with Linnea during hours in which he absolutely cannot tag along is the part that leads him to wonder if she just doesn't want to see or interact with him. It's a bit fishy of a coincidence, after all. This eventually bugged him enough to try to make contact with her to see if something was going on.

The results of his attempts to contact her were not to his surprise.

At first, he called her. Needless to say, she did not pick up his call. He had left her one voicemail to ask if something was going on but she did not respond to it. The same happened when he sent her text messages. When he stopped by her suite one evening on his way back to his room, one of her suitemates answered the door and told him that she had not seen A2 at the suite since Friday. Stopping by the lab entrance and asking her to let him in from the outside yields the same result.

If anything, Kai has started to miss A2. He doesn't know what he did to get her to start distancing herself from him. It wasn't as though he never did this himself to other people; he used to be quite the loner when he was younger, and frankly, kind of still is. However, he did not just distance _specific_ people that were getting close to him; he pretty much tried to do that with everyone until that faithful day in Russia when his friends insisted that they want him to accept them.

What could A2's reason be for avoiding him? Is it the same reason for why he used to act coldly to other people? Is it so bad for her to call him her friend? Or is it something else?

And then there was Linnea…

Contrary to A2's changes, Linnea seems to have become noticeably happier this past week and for a reason he can't quite understand. Of course, he didn't ask her what the reason is so he can't really expect to know or understand it. The girl has been smiling more noticeably and has even been growing bolder in her invitations to hang out together outside of their medieval history class. Having been told by A2 that he does not have to work at her lab until further notice, he didn't see any reason to refuse either. He had plenty of extra spare time on his hands, after all.

Additionally, there was also a few times where it seemed like Linnea had something important to tell him but always abruptly changes the subject right before saying anything. Not that he has any problem with that but it certainly does make him wonder what she was trying to tell him all this time.

Kai sighs. He just can't seem to get what's on either girl's mind.

Thinking back, this isn't really much of a surprise to him. He never hung out with girls much in his younger days. The Blade Breakers and the Blitzkrieg Boys were both teams full of guys. Hilary doesn't really count since he never spoke to her much.

His thoughts are interrupted as his professor concludes the lecture. Seeing as he no longer has to sit here, he gathers his things and leaves the room. Now that all of his classes for the day are done, he decides to head over to the location designated by Linnea the other day. Although he himself did not have very much interest in the matter, he did promise the girl to support her for her audition for some on-campus event on Halloween.

...

In a large hangar elsewhere, a team of busy engineers work on disassembling, exchanging parts and reassembling a nearly finished humanoid frame. Several members of this team stand around some terminals in the upper part of the hangar working separately on their assignments. Nearly unnoticed by them, Elena enters this hangar and calmly makes her way to the chief supervisor of the team. Noticing her approach, the middle aged supervisor pauses his current task to greet her.

"Good evening, Ms. Ehrenbaum. How can I help you?" he greets her.

Elena looks around the hangar. She then asks sternly, "How's the readjustments going with the LPF-00 Hero?"

"It's going quite well and we will be finished with time to spare for the upcoming test." The head engineer answers pleasantly. "The advancements from the LPF-01 Nymph are not difficult to implement into the Hero. Miss Rosenstreim's designs are really quite something. I'm amazed, in all honesty."

"I'm not here to hear praises for my sister." Elena responds coldly, her eyes fixed on the titanic machine. She then asks, "Who's in charge of the machine's programming?"

"My team here is working on modifying the original operating system to synchronize the new add-ons with the controls." He answers readily, indicating to his coworkers around the terminal he was working on.

"And how's that going?" Elena asks.

"Quite well also, actually." He responds, toning down his enthusiasm. "Despite the difficulty of learning the programming language that Miss Rosenstreim wrote for the operating system, it's really quite flexible for modifications like this so our task was not too difficult."

Elena turns to him and asks, "Tell me, how proficient are you at using this language?"

"Well, I'm not sure on that, but I would think rather well at this point." The engineer answers shyly.

"If I'm not mistaken, you leave work in a bit, right?" Elena asks nonchalantly.

"Yes, in about half an hour from now." The engineer answers.

"Come to my office before you leave." She tells him simply before turning to go.

...

Kai stops in his tracks upon recognizing the girl with Linnea outside the audition site's waiting room.

"Kai!" Linnea waves to him happily.

A2 simply takes a quick glance at him but turns away again as though nothing happened.

Kai makes his way towards them through the surprisingly thick crowd, still somewhat surprised to see A2 here. Did Linnea ask her to come along too? And did A2 know he would be here? Maybe she's not purposely avoiding him after all. He's not very sure on this since A2 doesn't greet him at all.

He chooses to put this aside for now as there would be no point starting a personal discussion about this in front of Linnea. Besides, this would just be awkward if A2 really wasn't trying to stay away from him.

He greets Linnea back with his usual "Hn".

"I'm so nervous though…" Linnea tells them both. "To think there are so many people here…I hope I make it…"

"Linnea!" a delighted voice calls not too far away.

Kai turns in the direction of the voice to see a brunette running towards them. He guesses it must be a friend of Linnea's.

Linnea greets her back with a warm smile, "Hey Sera."

"You ready for this?" Sera asks her. Behind her, a familiar figure follows her to the group.

"Kai," Raphael greets him smugly while placing an arm around the girl called Sera. "Fancy meeting you here. Don't tell me you're here to sing."

"I'm just accompanying someone." Kai tells him simply. He'd really prefer if the guy would just go back to flaunting his ego to some amateur bladers, but of course, he knows that's not really possible at this school anymore…

"Oh, hey A2." Sera greets the taller, more silent girl. She then introduces, "This is my boyfriend, Raphael."

A2 nods, not really caring.

Despite A2's indifference and Linnea's similar lack of interest, Kai can see Raphael checking both girls out from behind his girlfriend.

Someone in charge of coordinating the audition then steps out from the waiting room to let everyone inside and give directions. A2 follows Linnea inside silently. Kai does the same while Linnea's friend and her boyfriend walk in after them in some lovey-dovey way.

...

The sky outside the window behind Elena is a darkening, evening blue. The chief supervisor in charge of adjusting the LPF-00 Hero stares ahead stunned in the bright, white-lit office.

"You want me to…" he utters, not daring to repeat his boss's request.

"If you agree to this, you will be rewarded with an estate and more than enough monetary credit to support yourself and your family until old age." Elena tells him. She adds, "You will obviously no longer need to work and all your debts will be cleared."

The engineer, unsure what to do, lowers his gaze. "But if I…"

"You're free to decline this offer." Elena tells him. "However…"

The engineer looks back up at her. "Should you do so, I can't guarantee that your position at this company will remain stable…"

...

Back at the audition, a while of waiting has gone by.

To Kai's relief, the girl called Sera got called in rather early and after finishing the audition, has already left with her boyfriend. During this time, however, Kai had found out why there are so many people auditioning here today. Apparently, according to Linnea, there is a rumor going around that there will be some scout from a famous record label attending the concert. As such, it's created a huge hype amongst everyone on campus since it could mean a chance at being a celebrity.

Of course, understanding the reason for something doesn't make it more bearable. He'd be glad if all the airheaded people auditioning in the room would just be quiet and stop forcing him to listen to their horrible singing. To some extent, this made him regret coming here.

He looks at the clock on the other side of the room and sighs. Nearly an hour has already passed.

On Linnea's other side, A2 has been sitting completely still this entire hour. She neither spoke nor so much as shifted her position. At best, she might nod at something Linnea has to say, but nothing more.

Kai is starting to wonder if something is up with A2. She wasn't normally _this_ quiet. Sure, she's not talkative either, but the A2 he knew would have said something for sure by now – be it to assign him some "favor" or just a word in general.

He observes her for a little before turning away again.

Linnea, on the other hand, seems to be growing more and more nervous. Her shy personality is probably not very suited for things like performing. He chooses not to say anything of it however. It would discourage the poor girl, after all.

A few minutes soon go by, then another half hour.

A2 finally gets up from her seat. Turning to Linnea, she mouths a quick "restroom" and leaves the room. Linnea, not really concerned by such a simple thing, nods and returns her attention to the door of the auditioning room.

Another half hour soon passes and by now, half of those auditioning had finished and left.

A2, despite having gone to the bathroom a little over half an hour ago, had still not returned to the room. Since ten minutes ago, Linnea had already started getting worried for her. She had wanted to go to the bathroom to check on her, but knowing that her name might get called any minute, Kai dissuaded her from going. At this point, Kai had pretty much concluded that A2 had left to avoid him anyway.

Getting tired of sitting in the same room and sick of listening to the other participants' horrendous singing, Kai gets up and turns to Linnea.

"I'm going to go for a walk in the hallway." he tells her.

Linnea nods, watching him go.

...

Once outside the room, Kai takes a deep breath.

He _really_ shouldn't have come. However, he does admit, he'd feel a little bad refusing; Linnea just needed encouragement. Still, in all honesty, there isn't much of a reason for him to be here. Besides, Linnea invited A2 here anyway. A2 would have probably stayed if he didn't show up.

He begins walking down the empty hallway.

What could he possibly have done to make A2 want to avoid him so badly? Sure, he might have been reluctant about doing things for her just to get her to tutor him, but isn't that to be expected? There's no way she'd seriously expect him to happily do her bidding over one contract. He just can't help but want to find out the reason behind all of this.

He thinks back to the last time they had spoken to each other when A2 had insisted on tutoring Linnea at his suite. He recalls that she had been rather unhappy about being distrusted and kicked out so he can go grocery shopping. The next time he saw her again, she ran from him on sight.

With his eyes glued to the ground before him, he wonders, 'She's not avoiding me over being asked to leave my room, is she?'

It _would_ be rather hard for him to believe she could be this childish…

But what else could have been the cause of this?

His train of thought is abruptly cut off by a nearby sound.

Kai turns to its source to see an extremely familiar strawberry blonde slumped against the wall of the hallway. On her hair is some traces of blood but the rest of her seems clean. He approaches her quickly.

"A2!" he calls to her, bending down and shaking her gently. "Are you alright?"

She does not respond.

Recalling the two times that he had caught her falling sick and the fact that Emily had mentioned her fainting before, he wonders if this is the same as those other times. He decides to call an ambulance for her.

"Hang on, I'll get you to a hospital." He tells her, flipping out his phone.

She places her hand over it to stop him from dialing, however. Faintly, still with her eyes closed, she mutters to him, "Don't."

Kai looks at her, surprised by her request. After all, if she's this sick, why not?

Deciding it's for the best, he refuses her, "You _need_ a doctor, A2."

"As a favor to me…don't…" she repeats again.

Kai looks at her with an expression of confusion. Is she trying to use their contract to get him to leave her alone? But she's _this_ sick! Not that he knows what she's sick with, but what if something goes wrong and she dies? Being someone who could have saved her, he'd be in big trouble for leaving her alone unattended. Even if not for that, he'd feel guilty for letting her die for the rest of his life! He decides that this is no time to uphold their contract.

"Sorry, A2, but I can't just leave you here." He tells her adamantly.

He attempts to remove her hand so he can dial but she resists him.

"I'll be fine…just don't call an ambulance…please…" she begs him weakly.

Kai turns back to her, not really sure what he should do. Should he really just do as she says? Will she really be okay without a doctor?

She begs him again softly, "Please…no matter what…don't…I'll be okay…"

Deciding that there must be a reason for why she's insisting so strongly, he respects her wish.

Putting his phone away, he looks around. Even if he doesn't call an ambulance for her, it'd still probably be better if he can find somewhere for her where she can lay down. Spotting an area by the window lined with cushioned lounge seats, he picks up the collapsed girl and carries her over to them. Setting her down, he sits down next to her and rests her head on his lap to allow her to rest more comfortably.

He studies her expression. Despite her illness, she looks relaxed. This makes him wonder if she's in any pain or if she's just dizzy. He ponders for a second if he should ask her about her illness but decides against it. Wasn't she trying to avoid him? There's no way she'd tell him even if he asked.

But why was she avoiding him anyway? If he asked her, would she tell him her reason?

Kai continues to watch her. She soon shifts her position, causing some stray strands of hair to fall over her face. Kai brushes them back for her and in doing so, feels their softness as they run through his fingers. Up until now, he never really noticed how soft her hair was.

"Say…" he starts. "The past week…were you trying to avoid me?"

A2 does not answer him but continues to lay still.

"Why?" Kai asks, looking up from her. "Did I do something?"

She remains silent, causing him to turn back down to her.

A little annoyed that she's ignoring his question even in this state, Kai threatens her a little, "If you're not gonna respond to me, maybe I really should send you to a doctor."

"Response." A2 says almost immediately.

This annoys him even more. So she'll respond but not answer his questions? Two can play at this game.

"You seem unable to answer my questions though. Maybe calling an ambulance wouldn't be such a bad idea." He says, flipping out his phone again and pretending to dial.

"Then you can keep holding onto my necklace, but don't expect to pass Quantum Mechanics." She replies.

A frown appears on Kai's face. She really doesn't want to give him an answer, it seems. He gives up and puts his phone away again, continuing to stare down at her. He sighs in defeat.

He remarks, turning away to the afternoon scenery outside, "You're a stubborn one."

A2 smiles in response.

They stay still this way for a while.

Without turning back to her, Kai calls to her, "Hey,"

She opens her eyes but stays still and silent otherwise.

"If there's something you're dissatisfied with, say it." He tells her. "I can't just guess everything that bothers you."

She doesn't say anything to that, so he goes on, "Sure, I might not always be okay with giving you what you want, but if you never tell me, how will I know?"

Turning back to her, he tells her firmly, "I want you to stop avoiding me, A2."

She closes her eyes again, but asks, "Is there a reason for that?"

Kai doesn't know what to tell her. A reason? How should he say it? Is there anything he can name as a reason that won't sound downright awkward or desperate?

He replies to her, "No…"

"Then there's no need for me to comply." She further adds, "Our contract does not dictate any requirement of me other than to tutor you and ensure you pass Quantum. All other interactions will occur as required per condition three."

This makes Kai somewhat angry. "Then what the hell do you call that Saturday when you made me spend the whole day with you? Or when you stood in front of me even though there wasn't a damn thing you could do to stop that thug from shooting?"

A2 remains silent.

"If you're really going to use our contract as an excuse for everything, fine." Kai tells her bluntly. He adds, "But let me emphasize one thing: according to this same contract, you're obliged to ensure that I pass quantum with a good grade and a high class ranking. For that, I need you to stay close to me. Don't sit far away from me in class just so you can avoid talking to me. If and when you need me at the lab, just let me know. I won't refuse to help you. But most importantly, when I wanna talk to you, don't just ignore me or pretend to go missing."

He finishes, "…Okay?"

A2 doesn't say anything in response, but instead makes a small movement similar to a nod.

Kai, taking that as a "yes", breathes in relief. He didn't know how this turned into a cross between a game of wordplay and a long speech.

...

Concluding her song, the judges of the audition applaud Linnea with warm clapping and wide smiles. Taking a deep breath, Linnea opens her eyes and nervously await the judges' critique.

"That was wonderful!" one of the three judges exclaim in delight.

"Yes, you have a beautiful voice, sweetheart" another one tells her.

"Just one thing we want to point out to you though," another one begins. "While for the audition, we're okay with you singing cover songs from already established artists, in the actual concert, you'll be required to sing something original that you've written yourself. In a week from now, the composition and lyrics will have to be submitted for approval. Should we allow you to perform, how confident are you that you'd be able to handle all of this? I understand you've stated that you've had a strong musical education in your past…"

"I'll do my very best!" Linnea answers earnestly. "I mean…my grandmother used to teach me things about composition so…so I think I'll be fine."

The judges then look to each other before one of them tells her, "You may go. You'll get the results via email by tomorrow."

Nervously, Linnea nods and exits the room.

Expecting Kai to be back by now, she looks around the waiting room but does not catch sight of him. A2 has also not returned. Deciding to look for them, she leaves the waiting room and begins heading in the direction of the restrooms to first check on A2. Before even reaching it, however, she spots them both upon turning a corner. In a concave lounge area, A2 lies on the seats with her head resting on Kai's lap. The two of them didn't take note of her yet and in all honesty, appear rather close. Not wanting to disturb them and somewhat upset by this, she turns the other way and quickly leaves the scene.

...

Elsewhere in a darkened office, a clock strikes eleven o'clock. A tall, aging man with whitening hair in a formal suit stands by the large office window gazing out at the night sky. Of the three rings on his left hand, two of them glow brightly in red and blue.

He takes a deep breath before muttering, "My eldest daughter has done something very unnecessary…"


	17. Silly Dreams

### Silly Dreams

Kai checks over the list of tasks he had been given when he had arrived earlier at the lab. Scrolling down to the bottom and placing a check before the final task on the list with the electronic stylus, he breathes in relief. It would seem he has completed the last of his tasks for the day.

Since the audition last Thursday, about a week has gone by now. Despite that he has managed to convince A2 to stop avoiding him, the week felt strangely similar to that of the one before. The only difference seems to be, that instead of A2 avoiding him, it is now Linnea's turn.

In a way, he can kind of see her reason for doing so.

Previously, he had agreed to support Linnea for her audition but disappeared sometime during the wait. Of course, it wasn't as though he had intended to disappear on her, but having stumbled on an ailing A2 during his walk outside the room, it wasn't as though he had much of a choice. By the time A2 was well enough to sit up on her own, which was about an hour after he found her, the audition has already concluded and despite his search, Linnea was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't as though he did not intend to apologize for this, however.

The next time he went to his medieval history lecture, he had attempted to talk to Linnea about this only to find her sitting far away from him on the other side of the lecture hall. The next two remaining class sessions for the week went by in a similar fashion. She also did not call or text him at all despite having so frequently done so just the week before.

Kai, having figured out from his recent experience with A2 that she must be mad at him for what happened at the audition, had decided to let this cool off instead of wasting his energy getting frustrated and worrying about it. It wasn't as though the ordeal with A2 just a week ago wasn't enough for him and he was kind of getting sick of dealing with this kind of thing anyway.

A2 on the other hand, despite having agreed to stop avoiding him, hasn't exactly returned to her usual behavior around him either. She still remains much less vocal than before, at best giving him an order for something or just lazing around silently. In fact, from what he can see, she seems more outspoken with her online gaming PVP teammates than him. This part somewhat annoys him.

He turns and descends the stairs to return to the first level, navigating his way through the many machines and wires in the lab to the exit. Once there and away from the dangers in the back, he puts down the computerized touchpad and removes the helmet of his safety suit. The sound of a streaming news video playing on a side of A2's screen catches his ears.

"…and here we are at the site of the crime where the latest in a series of rape incidents occurred just earlier in the wee hours of morning. According to the police, the victim, was again, another young woman with blond hair, falling within the age range of all 11 previous victims. The city mayor has issued a statement in response to the recent series of incidents, warning young women, especially those with blonde hair between the ages of 16 and 25, to stay off the streets as much as possible after nightfall. The police are currently investigating…"

Curious, Kai walks closer to watch the rest of the report.

'Twelve victims in a month and four university students amongst them…' he notes mentally.

He then looks over to the time on the other corner of the large monitor. Seeing as it's past one in the morning and noting A2's hair color, he turns to her, "Hey, A2…"

A2 continues staring at the open game window of the MMO she is currently playing and does not answer him.

"It's late. Want me to walk you home?" he offers.

"No thanks." She replies simply.

Kai is silent for a moment, not sure what to say to her. She _was_ listening to that report, wasn't she?

"You sure?" he asks her.

"You're offering to be my bodyguard in case of the slim probability that I'd be targeted by a serial rapist, am I right?" she asks him back.

Kai doesn't bother to answer to that. It's kind of obvious, after all.

"Don't worry about me." she tells him, her eyes still glued on the window of the game before her. "I don't need two bodyguards."

Kai blinks, ' _Two_ bodyguards…?'

A2 eyes him briefly. Noticing his confused expression, she explains, "RE:Mordred is equipped with an mechanical echolocation system utilizing both sound waves and low frequency electromagnetic waves. The effective accurate detection range is about 3 kilometers outdoors. The frequency of emission, in conjunction with the computing power of RE:Mordred's processor, is enough to fully reconstruct the individual actions in real time of every object – animate and inanimate – within its range of detection even in moderately populated areas. Should any malevolent behavior be detected and determined to be targeted towards me, RE:Mordred's guard system will switch from standby mode to active mode to protect me from danger."

"Guard system…?" Kai repeats, looking over at the still and docile looking house robot beside her.

"Yes. It's equipped with a mid-range, low-powered electrolaser and a portable, long-range railgun capable of maximum muzzle velocities of roughly 2.5 kilometers per second." A2 tells him dully, preparing to engage some enemy players ingame.

Kai stares at the familiar house robot now with a mix of awe and questioning. Did he hear right? An electrolaser and a railgun? What in the world did A2 need those for? And doesn't the school prohibit the possession of weapons on campus?

"The school doesn't know about this?" Kai asks just for the hell of it.

"No, but even if they knew, it's technically within their policies and within the law." A2 tells him. "They've only specified that tasers, stunguns, blunt weaponry, knives and firearms aren't allowed. The electrolaser defense system is technically a direct energy weapon and the railgun is not powered by chemical explosives, but by an electromagnetic pulse, making it technically not a firearm. Since neither of them are usually portable items and aren't traded to civilians, the federal government hasn't exactly defined any laws against them specifically and state laws make no mention of either for the same reason."

Kai continues to stare at the robot and then to A2.

Deciding it'd be silly to bother offering to escort her, he tells her, "I'll see you next week then."

A2 simply nods as he turns to leave, heading out the door.

As soon as the door closes behind him, RE:Mordred announces, "Correction: While I am indeed equipped with an advanced echolocation-navigation system, I am neither equipped with an electrolaser nor a railgun."

A2 turns to it and pets it on the head. "I was just lying to him to get him to go home by himself."

"Inquiry: Given the danger of potentially being targeted by a high profile criminal, why did you reject his offer of protection?" RE:Mordred asks in its usual computerized tone.

"I don't want to be protected." A2 answers. "Not by _him_ anyway…"

"Error: Reasoning behind actions are illogical." RE:Mordred responds.

"Drop this subject." A2 tells it.

"Subject dismissed." RE:Mordred announces.

"Although…" A2 turns to RE:Mordred, a devious smile forming on her lips. "Given my recent popularity in the media and my rise in importance in the arms industry and various military organizations worldwide, do me a favor and determine the potential need I might have for a portable railgun or electrolaser. Permission to access Arthur for computational assistance is granted. Also, feel free to snoop around the networks of any organizations that might be of importance to the matter."

...

At the northwest edge of campus, Kai takes his usual route home from A2's lab.

So far the past week, the amount of work that A2 has given him at the lab seems to be an unusually large load. Whereas he would normally be able to go home by nine in the evening, lately, he has been given enough tasks that easily lasts him until past midnight. Moreover, unlike his usual list of tasks, the recent ones mostly revolve around changing parts or adding things to the Nymph. He wonders if something is going on with it soon, but A2 has informed him of nothing so far.

He continues on his way, turning a corner. Everywhere around him in sight is quiet and pretty much deserted.

He wonders if A2 will really be alright. Thinking back, A2's description of the weapons equipped on RE:Mordred really does sound a bit exaggerated, even for something of her creation. After all, what would be the need for a direct energy weapon or a railgun? Sure, she might be the daughter of an important politician overseas and the half sister of two very wealthy and influential people, but wouldn't hiring a normal bodyguard be better? The bodyguard would have the legal requirements to bear arms to protect her, after all.

The possibility that A2 might have been lying or exaggerating to avoid him crosses his mind, causing him to stop where he is.

'No, whatever it was that angered her before…she's over it by now, right?' He shakes this off and moves on.

As he is about to reach the main road dividing his residential community with that of a neighboring one, he recognizes someone familiar to him a short distance away. Somewhat surprised to see her out at this hour he calls her name, "Linnea?"

The girl stops a little ways away from him carrying her usual bag on her right shoulder and holding a large fluffy pillow in her arms. She turns to him upon hearing his voice. Awkwardly, she greets him, "Oh…hi."

They are both silent for a moment. Kai would have taken this chance to apologize for last Thursday, but Linnea attempts to leave.

"I'm…gonna go now, 'bye." She says, continuing on.

Kai stops her by asking, "Where are you going so late at night?"

Linnea pauses and answers him without turning back, "Just to the library…"

'Library? At one in the morning on a Saturday?' Kai repeats mentally, raising an eyebrow. Curious, he inquires, "What for? Whatever's due can wait 'til morning, can't it?"

"Well…it's not that anything's due…" She goes on, turning to him to explain, "My roommate and her boyfriend…well…they wanted the room to themselves for tonight and they begged me…so…"

Kai doesn't really need any further explanations to get where this is going. He asks directly, "You don't have anywhere you can stay for the night?"

Linnea nods, admitting, "All my other friends seem to have either gone home to visit their families or out partying tonight since it's Friday and there's no classes on the weekend."

Kai sighs. "You know there's a serial rapist on the loose who's got a thing for young blonde girls, right?"

"Well, I heard there's increased security on campus because of it so…" Linnea argues.

"Hold on." Kai tells her, taking out his phone. "Let me ask A2 if you can stay at her place…"

"No, don't!" Linnea exclaims suddenly, grabbing hold of Kai's phone.

Kai eyes her for a moment wondering what has gotten into her.

Linnea, realizing what she had done, let's go of the phone. "Sorry…"

Kai puts the device back but asks, "You okay?"

Linnea nods.

He goes on, "Did you have a fight with A2 or something?"

"No, not at all…" Linnea answers. "But…"

Kai sighs. "Well if you don't want to stay with A2, what about my place? It's a guy's suite but it's safer than sleeping at the library. I don't think anybody will mind you using the living room."

"Are you sure?" Linnea asks shyly.

"Yeah." Kai tells her.

"Okay…" Linnea agrees.

"Come," Kai says, beginning to lead her to his suite.

...

On the other side of the Atlantic, in the skyrise building that houses the headquarters of Astral Skies, a knock sounds on the door of Elena's office. Putting her morning cup of coffee down, Elena tells the person outside, "Come in."

The head engineer of the team working on the LPF-00 Hero steps in. He greets his boss, "Good morning, Ms. Ehrenbaum. I've completed the request you asked of me."

Elena beams at him, "Good work,"

The man hands her a small disk which she accepts.

"I just plug this into the machine to install it, right?" Elena asks.

"Yes," the engineer replies. "About that reward…"

"Ah, yes." Elena turns back to him with a smile, "I will send someone to pick you up later on in the afternoon to see the estate. Naturally, you're free to invite your family along as well. You should be able to move in whenever you and your family are ready. Now would you prefer I send the check to your old address or to your new one?"

...

Kai unlocks his suite's door and enters, holding it open for Linnea behind him. She follows him inside and looks around the quiet apartment suite as he locks the door again.

"It's late and everyone else is asleep, so you gotta stay quiet, 'kay?" Kai tells her.

She nods, heading into the empty living room.

"I'll go look for a spare sheet or blanket." Kai tells her, heading to his room.

"Wait!" Linnea calls after him.

Kai stops, turning to her.

"Uhm…" Linnea begins. "Actually…nevermind."

Kai decides to take her word for it and heads for his room again. Quickly finding a spare set of sheets in his closet, he returns to the living room with it.

"Here," he offers her the spares.

Linnea accepts them and looks up at him. "Thanks."

Kai then turns and heads to his kitchen for a cup of water. Since Linnea is also here, he pours a second cup for her and returns with it to the living room where he sets it down on the coffee table for her.

"There's more being filtered if you get thirsty overnight." He tells her.

Linnea reaches for the cup and nods. She sips from it a little and then begins to ask, "Uhm…Last Thursday…"

Kai turns to her.

"Did…something happen?" Linnea asks hesitantly. "You disappeared off…"

Kai, recalling the events of the week before, admits to her and apologizes, "Yeah, sorry about that. I've been trying to talk to you about this for a while."

She stiffens upon hearing that but remains quiet.

Kai continues, going on to explain, "While I was out, I found A2. She was rather ill so I had to take care of her. I tried to look for you afterwards in the waiting room but you were gone."

"Oh…" Linnea responds in a somewhat jumpy manner. She soon calms down. Concerned, she inquires shyly, "Is she okay now?"

"Yeah, I guess." Kai answers her. He then addresses her bluntly, "You were mad at me all week over this, weren't you?"

Linnea turns away, flushed. "Oh no, not at all…I was just…"

"Wanna tell me why you suddenly decided to sit on the other side of class all week then?" Kai follows up.

Linnea gives in. She admits, sheepishly, "I guess I was kind of a little bit mad."

Kai sighs. "You and A2…It's like you two take turns doing this sort of thing. At least I know what you're upset about."

They are both silent after this.

Linnea watches as Kai leans against a nearby wall. She then asks timidly, turning away, "Uhm…Are you and A2…close to one another?"

"Hm?" Kai eyes her, somewhat surprised by the question. He could tell she seems somewhat nervous but he answers anyway, "Not really. Why?"

"Uhm…I was just wondering." Linnea tells him, somewhat franticly. "It's not important for me to know or anything!"

Kai studies her expression for a moment as she tries to calm down.

"Though…" Linnea admits, "I actually asked A2 this once before but her answer was somewhat confusing."

Curious, Kai asks, "What did she say?"

"She said that you were just her business partner." Linnea tells him. "I wasn't sure what she meant so…"

"By business partners, she's referring to a contract that we've both agreed to." Kai explains briefly. "That's the main basis of our interactions anyway."

"But then…how come you guys sometimes look like you're close friends?" Linnea asks turning away. "I mean…like the way you guys sometimes argue and stuff…"

Kai recalls that Saturday he spent with A2 and the other times during which she had helped him out when he was in a jam. He mutters a reply, "Don't know."

Linnea turns to him as he gets off the wall on which he was leaning.

"Anyway, it's late." Kai tells her, heading to his room. "You should get some rest."

Linnea nods, watching him go.

...

An amount of time soon passes by. Linnea, having been trying to fall asleep for a while, rolls over in the sheets that Kai had given her earlier. She looks up at the moon above her outside the window and lets out a sigh.

'It sure was silly of me to jump to conclusions…' she admits in her mind, still embarrassed by the way she had thought there was something going on between Kai and A2 when all that happened last week was that A2 had gotten sick and Kai had to take care of her.

She thinks back to a week ago when she saw Kai and A2 together in the hall. Come to think of it, she didn't even approach them to see what was up before running away and assuming they ditched her to have a tender moment together.

'Why would they anyway?' she scolds herself mentally with a smile.

She had asked them both to come support her and to give her courage for her audition and they both came. If they were going to leave her in the middle of it on purpose, they might as well have not agreed to come at all, right? Besides, they both did kind of say they're not close. If they're friends with one another, what would be wrong with that? Thinking back to the advice from her friends on this, it'd probably do more harm than good if she minded who Kai hangs out with.

Linnea rolls over again on the sofa. 'But speaking of who Kai hangs out with…'

She recalls the two times that A2 had texted her to ask about meeting up for tutoring. A2 probably had no idea what was going on with her, but since she had been confused, panicking and somewhat feeling betrayed about this, she ultimately ignored A2 and never got back to her all week. With her second exam coming up in about two weeks, she wonders if A2 would still agree to tutor her.

Linnea sighs again, 'I need so much help with rotational motion too…especially that nonsensical torque stuff and the cross product thing…'

How should she even begin to try to fix this? Kai was aware that she was upset. A2 might have noticed something too. The poor girl was sick and needed care but despite being her friend, she ran off thinking she had been betrayed.

Closing her eyes, she turns over again. 'What should I do…?'

She imagines asking A2 for help.

"Hi A2," the girl imagines greeting her reserved friend.

"Hi," A2 greets back.

"I was wondering," Linnea begins to ask. "Could you tutor me on rotational motion and torque please?"

A2 raises an eyebrow. "I was going to tutor you on that last week but you never got back to me."

"Uhm…" Linnea tries to think of a good excuse for that without telling her the real reason. She ends up saying, "I wasn't feeling up to it last week, that's all."

"But you 'feel up to it' now?" A2 sums up.

Linnea isn't sure what to say. Maybe that wasn't the best excuse…

Angered, A2 tells her, "I'm not some slave awaiting your orders you know. Go find someone else to teach you."

Linnea mentally scolds herself, 'No, no! That won't do.'

She rolls over again.

'Maybe I should just avoid letting the conversation lead to last week if I don't want to explain it…'

She re-imagines the scenario again.

"Hi A2,"

A2 greets her back, "'Hi…"

Linnea tries again, "Uhm…Could you please tutor me on rotational motion and torque? I'm really confused and I think only you would be able to explain it to me clearly."

A2 replies hesitantly, "Sure, but why only me? Anyone with a university level background in Physics can explain it."

"Uhm…" Linnea looks for an answer to that. "Because…You're special!"

"Huh?" A2 looks at her confused.

"What I mean is…uh…" Linnea struggles to explain, "To me, you're someone special…"

A2 appears somewhat disturbed now. "Sorry, but…I don't know you that well…"

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Linnea tries to fix what she had said. "By special, I just meant…uh…that since you're the smartest person I know, you probably struggle the least with school work and so…uhm…you'd be able to explain the concept to me most clearly and that…you probably have a lot of free time on your hands to help me…"

"How rude." A2 turns away, offended. "Just because I'm smart doesn't mean I have a ton of free time. Like everyone else, I need to take care of my school work too. Then, there are all the essentials to life: eating, making sculptures with whipped cream, engineering giant robots, laying on Kai's lap…"

"Making sculptures, giant robots, and laying on…" What she just heard then hit her, "WHAT?!"

"That's right." A deep voice sounds near them both.

Linnea turns to see Kai approaching A2. "Huh?"

She watches as Kai pulls A2 into his arms in a loving fashion. "A2 is the most important person to me."

A2 leans into him, a dreamy expression on her face. "Oh, Kai…"

The two of them then begin to kiss, causing Linnea to shake these thoughts out of her head. 'No, no, no, no, no! Both Kai and A2 said they're not close, so this is impossible!"

Still, the idea that Kai might like someone else clings to her. 'But…I wonder if Kai does likes anyone right now. Maybe he does and it's just not A2…'

"Sorry Linnea." Kai tells her. "The one I love is…"

"Kai~!" a familiar voice chimes.

Linnea turns to see her medieval history TA running affectionately towards her beloved Kai.

"Ms. Amber?!" Linnea exclaims, shocked. She turns back to Kai. "H-How…How can you be in love with our TA?"

"Why? Does it matter that she's our teacher?" Kai asks back. "All that matter is that we love each other, right?"

Linnea, finding this idea ridiculous, dismisses this idea too and scolds herself in her mind. 'No no no! That's impossible! What am I thinking?!'

She then watches as a navy haired boy, dressed in a wedding gown, runs to Kai.

'That's the boy in the group picture in Kai's room…' Linnea recognizes him from when she visited Kai sometime before her audition.

"You look lovely today, Tyson." Kai tells the other male.

"Really?" Tyson asks in a strange, high pitched voice. "Let's get married."

Kai responds affirmatively, "Yes, let's…"

"NOOOOO!" Linnea screams, "This can't happen! Kai's not going to marry another guy, he's-"

"Linnea?" Kai calls to her from the end of the hallway.

Linnea blinks her eyes open to find herself in Kai's living room. Outside, the sun shines brightly, piercing the quiet living room with its late, morning rays. Sitting up, she turns to Kai to see him standing topless with a towel around his shoulders there. She ends up staring at his toned body for a moment but then realizes she should probably greet him.

"Uhm…Hi…Good morning…" she mutters, turning away, flushed.

"Was something the matter?" Kai asks, a somewhat confused expression on his face. "I heard you call my name…"

"It was nothing!" Linnea tells him, not daring to face him. Her face turns redder each second.

Kai raises an eyebrow but informs her, "I'm going to go for a shower. The guy in the room next to mine is awake so you can knock on his door if you need anything."

He turns to go, but adds, "Oh, and you can stay for as long as you need until it's okay to go back to your room. I'll be out soon though. I promised a friend I'd hang out with him today."

Linnea nods in response as Kai leaves for the bathroom. Turning back to where he had been standing, she sighs. 'He must think I'm a dork now…'

...

Elsewhere, where it is already late in the afternoon, a luxurious vehicle drives steadily down a deserted highway lane. A family of four sits in the passenger's seats inside. Two small boys gaze out the window together, joking with one another and making exaggerated bets. Their mother and father watch them quietly.

"So what is this surprise you wanted to show us?" the wife asks her husband.

"You'll see, dear." The engineer answers his wife. "I want to surprise you all."

One of the boys lets out a yawn. Sitting back down on the seat more properly, he turns to his mother. "Mom, I'm kind of tired. Is it okay if I nap for a little while?"

His brother follows his example, "Me too actually."

"But you boys woke up from your naps just a little before we got in the car!" Their mother reacts, surprised.

"Well, why not," their father tells them. "Maybe they got tired having that little competition with one another just now."

The mother, not seeing any reason to disapprove, turns back to her children, "We'll wake you two up when we get there, alright?"

"Okay!" The boys answer in unison, taking up better positions for falling asleep.

Their parents look to one another with a smile.

Soon, a while passes.

The driver in the front angles himself to see into the passenger seats. Seeing as everyone has fallen asleep, he drives on quietly down the cliffside road. Eventually, another car, stopped in a small area at the side of the road, comes into view. The driver slows down and parks the car besides the stopped one and exits the vehicle.

A man besides the stopped vehicle greets him, "They asleep?"

"Yeah," the driver tells him. "The gas worked like a charm."

"Good, let's proceed as planned." The other man pats him on the shoulder, getting into the smaller car.

The driver of the limo nods and restarts the luxury vehicle's engines. He then opens the window of the passenger seats a little before attaching a small object onto one of the pedals to hold it down. Closing the door of the driver's seat again after this, he shifts the position of the hand brake and steps back, getting into the other car. As the smaller vehicle pulls out of the roadside area, the limo begins to move forward towards sea. Driving away from the site, the two men watch from their mirrors as the limousine and the sleeping family inside plunges to their doom off the cliff.

The driver of the limo then takes out a phone, "I'll give the report to our client."

...

As quietly as possible, Kai unlocks the door to his suite. Looking around at the darkened, moonlit suite living room, he lets out a tired sigh.

Due to having promised Max to spend a day with him today, he ended up wasting his entire day accompanying his old teammate around town while he, Emily, Michael, Rick, Eddy and Steven goofed off all day. It wasn't a bad experience per se. He did get the chance to do quite a bit of catching up with them. Of course, since he was nowhere near close to Max's American teammates, he really couldn't care less for this, but it was better than having nothing to do. He did finish his schoolwork earlier in the week, albeit requiring aid from A2 for most of it due to his rush and recent lack of focus on coursework altogether.

He begins heading to his room. As he does, passing by the living room, he notices a bag in the corner near the sofa.

'Did Linnea leave that behind?' he wonders, recognizing the item as the one she carried regularly.

Deciding not to bother with it for now, he continues on his way. Soon reaching the door of his room, he takes out his keys and unlocks the door. Flipping the lights on, he stiffens at the sight of a certain strawberry blonde sleeping quietly on his bed. Waking up from the sudden change in brightness in the room, A2 sleepily blinks her eyes open and pushes herself up to greet him.

"Oh hi," she says while yawning. "Welcome back."

Kai stands still at his door, stupefied by the presence of the familiar girl in his room.


End file.
